I am going to disagree with my good friend Cruella - but it won't be the first time that we have been of different opinion, and we are friends so we are allowed to differ
Personally I think that there are plenty of other good (maybe even better) surgeons out there who will take a more reasonable view of things. It sounds to me like you are up against the sort of rule driven doctor that I had in my first gender shrink. My response was (eventually) to find another doctor, one who could see past the letter of the law and follow the spirit of it.
With all due respect to the Meltzer fans, there are a lot of good SRS surgeons. He simply isn't the only one who can produce a decent result or we would all go to him, and we don't! As part of the deal is having a good doctor patient relationship I think if I were so at sixes and sevens with a man I would not want him operating on me.
I think you should look carefully at other options, however, personally I think going to Thailand may not be the smartest thing to do. There are doctors in the US and indeed the UK who will take in account the time in school and will thus deem you eligible. Dr Nguyen in Oregon was, I gather, trained by Meltzer and is a good surgeon. Dr Harold Reed has some very impressive results on his web-site and is also pretty good value. Mcginn and Bowers need no introduction, and there are others in the Us too, not to mention Thomas and Bellringer in the UK. Before you give up you should look at all of these. I'm sure at least one of them will take you.
Get those letters back - or get some fresh copies from the therapists. Be more careful how you represent the time in school - if you are enroled as a female - then you are full time! Don't tell doctors little picky details they don't need to know which will only cause them trouble.
Finally remember under the SOC it is for the therapist and not the surgeon to determine when you have fulfilled the criteria to be technically eligible for SRS. Sadly that does not mean that a doctor is obliged to accept you after a consultation.
You need to establish the ground rules before you see the next doctor. Send them copies of the letters in advance and get them to confirm IN WRITING that subject to a satisfactory consultation they are happy to accept you for surgery. It sounds to me as if Meltzer was being way way WAY to literal in his interpretation of full time. His loss need not be yours.
