Susan's Place Transgender Resources

UM, when applying to universities... Should I declare I am transgender? If they ask for schools I have attended in the past and I did spend 2 years at a school under my previous name. Should I list this?

Disclosing that you are is entirely up to you....

From your question, I suppose your first name has been changed legally already ?
In this case, I would ask your previous schools to change the name on your official degrees/certificates on the basis of your legal name change documents.
In any case I would apply by your legal name (so that the person who gets into a university legally "exists"), and without mentioning being transgender (it is not a disability/something which might affect/hinder your academic performances). I would also list your past schools on your application; chances that they will ask for official documents from these schools are - probably - very low.
In the worst case, you might have to explain the situation at a later stage of your application... in my opinion it's still better not to out yourself from the beginning. (But this is a personal opinion)

Personally, I applied to universities (in the UK) by my legal, still female name, waited until my offer was unconditional and having been officially enrolled, before revealing my transgender status - the staff at my uni were all very understanding and then changed my first name and gender on all documents/email accounts etc, and even gave me a second accomodation contract so that I could have male flatmates (instead of the female ones originally automatically assigned to me).

I think it's up to you... if your ID and recent certificates read male, I could understand wanting to be 100% "stealth"... how relevant are these 2 years at school under a previous name in terms of getting into uni or not ?

Good luck ! :)

Yeah this is for applying in the UK, um. My name is changed legally, but I had gone to a different school after changing it and getting on hormones and stuff so I could be stealth and all. So I never changed the name with my old school. I don't know if it will matter or not to be quite honest, I just don't want to be discriminated against for being transgendered. I am also in a bit of a pickle, since I need to get recommendations and the teachers that knew me and loved me were at my old school! I know they would give me great recommendations, but I will have to tell them first why I left. (DISCLOSING TRANSGENDER!! AH) Hopefully they won't care and will still give me good recommendations lol.

God this is so stressful! I hope it all goes well. Maybe I won't list my first school I went to, I'll have to think about it and see whether or not it would be important to or not. GL me.

If I understood that, you want to get referances off the school that knew you as female, not the last school you were at?  I would personally be worried that the university would think there was something strange about you using people who knew you a couple of years ago for references, rather than the ones who knew you a month or two ago.  You don't want them thinking you're hiding something, even if the references you get are slightly better.  I would list both schools, but give them the details of the school which knew you as male for the references.
Also, you might be able to find out how LGBT friendly your uni is.

And good to see another UK member around here.

But it would be for much better references, and I am trying to get into competitive programs at competitive universities lol. Every little chance of gaining an advantage, I want. :P

How long ago did you leave the school you were presenting as female at?  If it's not so long ago it might not look that strange, but if it's a couple of years then it would raise some questions, which might be as bad for you in terms of getting in as getting a worse reference from your most recent school.

I got into my university (in the UK too :) ) with a reference from a teacher who taught me three years prior to the point of entry, and it worked fine. As long as you can explain what you did to fill in the gap (work or school etc...) I reckon it shouldn't be a problem if the reference isn't very recent. I think it also depends on whether it is a university where personal/professional experience is valued as much as time spent at school/academic performance or not ?
I don't know if you're applying through UCAS but what you could also do is fill in the forms with your legal name and put your birth name where it says "name before 16th birthday" (or there must be some sort of gap where they ask for maiden names/previous names, even if it's another type of form/system). I guess your name didn't change at 16 but at least that way you can ask your teachers to write references for your birth name while still applying with your legal male name ... ?
That way the people looking at your application could somehow match the two identities... ?

Whether you want to include those two schools or not is entirely up to you though, but if you do while still wanting to be stealth you'll have to come out to the teachers writing references... Good luck with that choice, but it's really up to you.

Yeah I left my old school around three years ago. I already emailed the teacher I know would give me an awesome reference and tried to explain everything to them lol. Hopefully it goes well. I was thinking of putting my old name i  the box that says name before turning 16 or whatever but I skipped it in the end cause I thought my teacher probably wouldnt mind doing the reference for me. Hopefully they reply to me pretty quickly lol .

ok, in that case I really hope your teacher will provide you with a great reference, it's fantastic that your past won't even show on your application !
Great, fingers crossed  ;)

Quote from: AlexanderC on August 12, 2013, 05:41:21 PM
If I understood that, you want to get referances off the school that knew you as female, not the last school you were at?  I would personally be worried that the university would think there was something strange about you using people who knew you a couple of years ago for references, rather than the ones who knew you a month or two ago.  You don't want them thinking you're hiding something, even if the references you get are slightly better.  I would list both schools, but give them the details of the school which knew you as male for the references.
Also, you might be able to find out how LGBT friendly your uni is.

And good to see another UK member around here.

There are plenty of us if you know where to look, I'm from Wales! *waves*

ALRIGHT! She said she would write me the reference! I just thought I would share some happiness hehe.

FWIW, I came out before my second year of college and my college was 100% accepting and supportive. They did me a lot of favours while I was trying to deal with all the stress and my depression actually. I applied to uni this year and actually used my trans status as a selling point in my personal statement. I got offers from all four of the unis I applied to (Coventry, Glasgow, Aberystwyth and Essex) and Essex also had someone in their student support department contact me and ask if there was any support I would need regarding my situation. They're not going to stick a sign on my door warning people I'm trans, and very few unis in the UK don't offer mixed gender halls - most of them only offer mixed gender.

In my experience, everyone in education is very supportive and accommodating of trans people. I definitely think coming out as trans can give you an edge - academics aren't the only reason a university will want you. You can use your trans identity to show you're mature, self aware, determined, brave, tolerant and accepting.

Yeah, I thought it might be able to give me a bit of an edge if I mention it. I might mention it anyways in my personal statement regardless lol. I have to give it a bit more thought though, but I do see your point.

Isnt it great when the first screen you're faced with when registering to apply via UCAS has 'gender' right there. My title is legally Mr but my gender markers havent been changed yet so I have to put the wrong gender as official documents are still wrong. Click on next and I get 'gender appears inconsistent with title. Please check' Thanks for reminding me yeah. People who force the binary really dont consider anyone in our situation and how it can affect us. Im in a kind of limbo right now, neither one or the other. I typically wont even fill out a form like this when Im forced into this but I want to apply so I have no choice but to throw out this marker. I do however like the additional section once you're registered and go into the personal details section theres a 'preferred first name' box. By the time I actually start next year (IF I get in) my marker will be right but it wont be in time for getting this application in so it will remain to be wrong

That will have already outed me which I didnt actually want to do but Im wondering if its actually a good thing to mention in the personal statement as it shows we've dealt with alot more than the majority of other people could even understand. I didnt want to say anything as it could put them off me when its already an extremely competitive area to get into I dont need to lower my chances any further. If it might actually help though then I might. I was actually going to ask about whether it would be a good thing to tell them in advance or not. Whether an offer would have anything to do with that what so ever can never be known though that it might have happened regardless of it. There is no 'trans' box to tick but trying to play it off as an advantage through the personal statement sounds good to me. Of course they're not just looking for grades alone, they're looking for personal attributes too. Dont think I stand much chance of getting into this so need all the help I can get in selling myself to them. This has held me back my entire life but using it as an excuse isnt going to help, playing it off to a strength will

Yeah I'm most probably going to mention it, because to be quite honest, it has shaped me a lot since it was a big part of my life for many years and to a certain extent still is. (Only not as noticeably to everyone else!) My mum is just like obsessed with thinking of the worst that could possibly happen and as soon as I mentioned this she just looked at me with a face of disgust or something of the sort and said something like "Really?!". Last time I asked her opinion about disclosing it to someone she had the same reaction and all turned out awesome though, so yeah.. I like to think that most educational institutions are mostly accepting of this sort of thing. Hopefully mentioning it will show them we are able to get through tough times and all, while gaining from it too. :P