Popularity and romance sims are easier, and family sims drive me insane with their wants to be best friends with people they only met 5 minutes ago.
That's what phonehack and autoyak are for... I find that extended phone calls one day apart will make them best friends pronto.
I have them College->Rampage at the beginning of the semester, then do social stuff after.
In new hoods, I actually start the Greek house from scratch with a playable Sim and his or her townie significant other (or dormie if he or shee never fell for one of the townies), then have a sibling and his or her significant other become pledges, move in, and take over the running of the place. After 2 or 3 playables with 7K scholarships, they've got a pretty nice place!