Ok so like i'm going to university at like the end of September, and i was wondering whether you lot think if it would be better or not to go full time, like go there as a women on the very first day.
I will hopefully be on hormones by then. I know it will be a good few months before i will really see the effects on hormones on my body and face.
I like kind of pass, if i have really good days i pass like 99% and if i have not so good days i would say probably 50%.
All i'm really looking for are your opinions and people who are at university/college all ready.
Salisha x x
If you're not going to pass, university would be the place to do it.
If only it were that simple...
Find out how you will be housed, unfortunately its a little like prison. You may be housed in male housing until you're post-op. You may be housed in female housing from the get go or you may have to opt for a "single" room (insanely expensive BTW). There's enough stress between freshmen roommates as it is, and your roommate (be they male or female) may not exactly be comfortable living with someone that half the time looks like a male and half the time looks like a female. No disrespect, but your numbers are probably high - so its probably more like "most of the time looks male, but looks female from time to time". Your bathrooms in the dorms/residence halls are also probably "community" style, you need to be sure how people will react and what the policys are on restroom use.
Find out what your university's attitude towards crossdressing is, since that's the worst case scenario. I know you're not a crossdresser, but given you're not consistently 100% (by your own admission), the rest of the university is going to see it that way. And by "attitude" I'm not just talking about some well intentioned diversity policy. Reach out to the GLBT alliance (and if they don't have one, that should speak volumes) and find out what the community attitudes are towards crossgender students. Can you attend class on your "50%" days and not have to worry about harassment? How will your professors react to your "50%" days?
I know the desire to go full time is strong, what you really want is credentials that support your female identity. That's the university degree at the end of four years. Even then you can have them print whatever name you want on it, or even just initials. That's four long years from now. Leaving school before then becuase you rushed in to a transition you weren't ready for isn't going to help your overall transition goals.
Well, going to uni - it sounds like you may be young? 18-21ish years old? There's a good chance you still have a fairly androgynous look, so passing as female may not be a problem.
To save yourself from a traumatic experience you'll probably want to make sure you pass fairly well. It sounds shallow, I know. But kids around that age can be brutal, and if your outed as a "->-bleeped-<-", "crossdresser", or "dragqueen", then it can ruin your time at the university, as well as potentially damage your self esteem, and no one deserves either.
Looks are important, but it's only about 25% of passing. But looking the part is still important.
Confidence is also important. If you own the fact that you are female instead of holding your head down and giving people a reason to suspect something, then you're passability will sky rocket.
Voice is VERRRY important. You can look amazing, with all of the confidence in the world, but if you whip out Barry White in a conversation, then you're going to get clocked.
Moving like a girl does a lot to help you pass. Shorter, faster strides when you walk. Not leaning too much on things. Keeping your legs closed; I can't tell you how many (trans)girls I see with their legs spread waaaaaay open; it's just not typical of what female's generally do.
Anyway, that was a really quick rundown. I wrote a really long post about this stuff here (https://www.susans.org/forums/index.php/topic,101807.msg753976.html#msg753976). [Click Me] (https://www.susans.org/forums/index.php/topic,101807.msg753976.html#msg753976)
I'll also embed the post as a quote.
Quote from: Samantharz on July 13, 2011, 09:11:19 PM
A feminine voice is as important as any other aspect when you're talking about passing and blending in with the public. Most of us are not gifted with the privilege of transitioning early and often times deal with our voices dropping. If we want to blend in with the public, and not get stared at as soon as a word comes out of our mouth, then it is our obligation to adjust ourselves to some amount of "acceptable standard". This includes the overall image you project from your appearance, to your mannerisms to your voice and speech patterns.
Now with that said, you can adjust yourself to an "acceptable standard" and still be unique. In my experience the acceptable standard is actually quite wide and you only need to fit into this standard with the majority of your presentation for the general public to put you on your desired side of the gender binary.
There are a number of things to consider. Your appearance, your mannerisms and your voice. In my experience, you need to meet about 2.5 of these 3 criteria to pass. For instance, if you have a feminine appearance and mannerisms, but you have a manly voice, it's going to be a lot harder to pass; if you are able to work up to at least an androgynous voice, basically to the point to where people can't tell what you are on the phone, then you should be able to pass without much problem. Granted, it's more complicated because each of those 3 points are quite intricate and complex.
Your appearance; hair, eyebrows, facial hair, clothing; these are the 4 biggest things you can address to passing based on your appearance.
Long, feminine hair styles really transform the entire face. Big bushy eyebrows are not characteristic of a woman's general appearance. Facial hair, obvious one there. Clothes are VITALLY important, picking clothes that can work with your body, even creating a faux shape can give you the appearance of having hips, even if you don't. Not all clothes work for all people; the certain style you like may not be flattering to your body shape. Tight clothing is often the most difficult to get away with; while clothes that are too baggy kind of makes you look more masculine. Experiment, play around, find your middle ground, when you do find the right article of clothing, it will SCREAM at you when you wear it.
Your mannerisms; walk, sit, standing idle, talking with your hands, etc. ; are all subtle (and perhaps not so subtle) queues that people pick up on. Things like avoiding slouching, keeping your legs closed or crossing them over at the knee, walking with shorter strides; these are all small things that can add up. If you walk with large strides and with a heavy foot, you'll look like a guy. Spreading your legs while sitting is a nasty habit that I see a lot of transgirls do.
Now we're at the meat of this write-up.
Your VOICE; resonance, pitch, consistency, loudness; 4 things, in order, that are vital to getting a really feminine voice. I'm going to try to explain each of these points as best I can.
Resonance is absolutely, 100%, without a doubt the most important part of your voice. If you raise your pitch without addressing your resonance, you'll just sound like a man with a high pitched voice. 75% of the voice is resonance, or lack thereof, and the rest is pitch and projection (loudness).
It doesn't matter if you have a low voice, some women have lower voices, and you can have a low voice and still sound feminine. There is a certain pure tone that a lot of women have regardless of their pitch and the reason for that is RESONANCE! Okay, so are you tired of me talking about resonance? Tough! Let's talk about how you can fix it!
So to get the resonance you need to sound feminine is to stop talking from your chest, and to start resonating from your head. Sounds easy, right? It is simple, but it isn't necessarily easy. It's hard because getting out of your chest resonance can be quite challenging, and keeping it in your head resonance takes a bit of muscle strength. I know for me, this was the hardest step for me to tackle. Let's talk about how we can get into your head resonance.
A lot of videos and tutorials online may tell you to go into your falsetto and sound like Mickey Mouse, then bring it down, and soften it. That never worked for me. It may work for you, and it's worth giving a try, I'll post some links at the bottom of this write-up for how to do this. For me, getting out of my chest voice involved singing at my upper range. When you do this you'll feel your larynx (Adam's apple) raise up to a higher position in your throat, this is where it needs to be. Another way was to try to sound surprised, think of when someone surprises you with tickets to a concert and you're saying in an excited voice, "Wow, Thank you for the tickets! These are super mega totally cool!!" You may feel your larynx rise when you talk like that, pay attention to this feeling and try to raise the larynx even further to reduce the resonance.
When you try to sing, find someone who is at the upper end of your range but doesn't make you strain too hard or cause your voice to "crack" too much. After a few songs you may feel your voice getting tired, this is normal. What is happening is the muscles which raise your larynx and tighten your vocal chords are weak, and like any other muscle they need to be strengthened. This brings me to my next point.
Practice is vital because it adds much needed strength to your muscles. If you remember, consistency was one of the 4 points I brought up on how to work on your voice. Practice will bring consistency. As you strengthen your muscles, you will also get a higher range because as your muscles get stronger you can pull your vocal chords tighter and get higher pitches, much like a guitar string.
Pitch is an easy part to address. After you tackle resonance, just play with the pitch and get to something that you think sounds good. Be careful not to get too high, because girls are very erratic with the pitch of their voice. Girls put emphasis on certain words and statements by using pitch variations, while guys tend to project louder while being more monotone. Think of the differences between guys and girls when they say, "What a cute kitty/cat!" Girls will put an emphasis on pitch and it almost sounds like they're singing. While guys tend say it more quickly and to the point, while putting emphasis on certain words like "cute" by saying it louder.
Girl's will also elongate words of the sentence, for instance when saying "What a cute kitty!", girls may elongate the Y at the end of "kitty", so it may sound more like "kittyyyyyy-". This may be a cliché, but it does tend to be true for a lot "standard" girls.
Loudness/Project your voice. Another problem I had for a while was I had a habit of talking a bit too softly. This has a tendency to sound "fake". Just try to talk louder while maintaining your resonance and pitch. It's not too challenging, but it is something you need to be conscious of.
I have a few extra tips about your voice.
Record yourself. I know you didn't want to hear this, but it's super important, and it can REALLY help you. I've named a condition that we all feel when we record ourselves, the "Butthole Complex"; because you feel like a butthole when you hear yourself. But it is really really important to do, the reason it's so important is because you need to hear yourself outside of your head. When you talk, your sense of how you sound is flavored because your voice is resonating directly into your ears. Recording yourself is VITAL.
Everything is cute or sad. Lots of "aww"s, girls do it ALL THE TIME. When somebody says something, just say, "awww". If you see a bug clinging to life on your windshield as you drive 85mph down the highway, just say "aww" (and laugh a little because it's funny!).
After a while, when you get adjusted to your new voice and you become accustom to talking in your higher resonance, slightly higher pitch, and projecting your voice, you'll feel your voice of click into place. This is hard to explain, it may have something to do with muscle memory. Once you get to that point, you'll find that you have a new lower range while maintaining this voice, you may not be able to get down to your overall low while in this voice, because this voice has its own unique range. This is something I've personally experienced, but I don't know if many others experience this.
When I try to talk at a lower range while in my preferred voice, my voice cracks and I can't get any lower. It's a different feeling than trying to drop down to my lower range while in falsetto.
Last suggestion I'm going to give is how you can practice talking to strengthen your muscles. I do suggest the use of a spectrogram. This link (http://www.genderlife.com/products-page/setting-up-the-spectrogram) will give you information on where you can get one, how to set it up, and how to use it. The software is free and it can be a valuable tool for training purposes. It can show you where your voice is sitting as far as pitch and it can help keep you at a proper range, because a lot of times your voice drops over extended use.
Finally here are the links I said I'd give you.
- CandiFLA Voice 1 (http://youtu.be/zRhit3CGMeA)
- CandiFLA Voice 2 (http://youtu.be/ibJFGRMYPCc)
- CandiFLA Voice 3 (http://youtu.be/qbaj4tIX1kw)
- CandiFLA Voice 4 (http://youtu.be/BaxxEyZBgR4)
- CandiFLA Voice 5 (http://youtu.be/TXoaCCESpec)
- CandiFLA Voice 6 (http://youtu.be/GExTkifIxS4)
- CandiFLA Voice 7 (http://youtu.be/bJZjcKYOQr0)
- CandiFLA Voice 8 (http://youtu.be/9jniOOlVBJg)
- CandiFLA Voice 9 (http://youtu.be/s7qSJ19f_QU)
- CandiFLA Voice 10 (http://youtu.be/EeBwNWETJ5o)
- CandiFLA Voice 11 (http://youtu.be/O8AvdUoGD7g)
- CandiFLA Voice 12 (http://youtu.be/sgP9D3Ki9r8)
- CandiFLA Voice 13 (http://youtu.be/04ONx9lRJPE)
- CandiFLA Voice 14 (http://youtu.be/8nfr5gBFrVs)
- CandiFLA Voice 15 (http://youtu.be/E_vPuOX8fqI)
Karmatic1110 Voice Video (http://youtu.be/ciWIzpW_X20) - This one helped me a lot.
Hope this helps someone, took me a while to put together.
Quote from: regan on August 13, 2011, 09:53:19 AM
If you're not going to pass, university would be the place to do it.
If only it were that simple...
Find out how you will be housed, unfortunately its a little like prison. You may be housed in male housing until you're post-op. You may be housed in female housing from the get go or you may have to opt for a "single" room (insanely expensive BTW). There's enough stress between freshmen roommates as it is, and your roommate (be they male or female) may not exactly be comfortable living with someone that half the time looks like a male and half the time looks like a female. No disrespect, but your numbers are probably high - so its probably more like "most of the time looks male, but looks female from time to time". Your bathrooms in the dorms/residence halls are also probably "community" style, you need to be sure how people will react and what the policys are on restroom use.
Find out what your university's attitude towards crossdressing is, since that's the worst case scenario. I know you're not a crossdresser, but given you're not consistently 100% (by your own admission), the rest of the university is going to see it that way. And by "attitude" I'm not just talking about some well intentioned diversity policy. Reach out to the GLBT alliance (and if they don't have one, that should speak volumes) and find out what the community attitudes are towards crossgender students. Can you attend class on your "50%" days and not have to worry about harassment? How will your professors react to your "50%" days?
I know the desire to go full time is strong, what you really want is credentials that support your female identity. That's the university degree at the end of four years. Even then you can have them print whatever name you want on it, or even just initials. That's four long years from now. Leaving school before then becuase you rushed in to a transition you weren't ready for isn't going to help your overall transition goals.
I like your post hehe :)
But i forgot to say, i'm like in a mixed accommodation, its like a 6 room flat and we share a kitchen and we all have an en-suit (yes !!!!!) and yeah my uni has got a LGBT society which is good yay hehe.
I really want to go as a women and like not have to go as a boy for the first year and then a girl for the rest urgh . . .
OMG i hope i don't get like nasty people in my flat, if i do i might just go die :(:(:(:(:(
Salisha x x
Quote from: Samantharz on August 13, 2011, 09:55:01 AM
Well, going to uni - it sounds like you may be young? 18-21ish years old? There's a good chance you still have a fairly androgynous look, so passing as female may not be a problem.
To save yourself from a traumatic experience you'll probably want to make sure you pass fairly well. It sounds shallow, I know. But kids around that age can be brutal, and if your outed as a "->-bleeped-<-", "crossdresser", or "dragqueen", then it can ruin your time at the university, as well as potentially damage your self esteem, and no one deserves either.
Looks are important, but it's only about 25% of passing. But looking the part is still important.
Confidence is also important. If you own the fact that you are female instead of holding your head down and giving people a reason to suspect something, then you're passability will sky rocket.
Voice is VERRRY important. You can look amazing, with all of the confidence in the world, but if you whip out Barry White in a conversation, then you're going to get clocked.
Moving like a girl does a lot to help you pass. Shorter, faster strides when you walk. Not leaning too much on things. Keeping your legs closed; I can't tell you how many (trans)girls I see with their legs spread waaaaaay open; it's just not typical of what female's generally do.
Anyway, that was a really quick rundown. I wrote a really long post about this stuff here (https://www.susans.org/forums/index.php/topic,101807.msg753976.html#msg753976). [Click Me] (https://www.susans.org/forums/index.php/topic,101807.msg753976.html#msg753976)
I'll also embed the post as a quote.
OMG thank you, this has helped me a lot. hehehe your amazing :D and yeah i'm like 18 and i think i do look feminine, actually i might post some pictures tonight i just need to find some that will work.
Salisha x x
There is no better place for you to do this.
Enter school as a woman as school will be your first steps into your profesional job. Some fields are small and how you were in school will be common knowledge. If you start as a woman you will always be a woman, if you start as a guy then transition to a woman they will remember you as the guy who became a girl.
Quote from: cynthialee on August 13, 2011, 10:11:42 AM
There is no better place for you to do this.
Enter school as a woman as school will be your first steps into your profesional job. Some fields are small and how you were in school will be common knowledge. If you start as a woman you will always be a woman, if you start as a guy then transition to a woman they will remember you as the guy who became a girl.
Thank you for your reply :)
When you said if i go as a guy and then transition they will remember me as the guy who become a girl, i never thought of it that way and i don't want to be remembered that way at university.
So i think its time to go full time soon hehe.
Salisha x x
I'm glad that I was able to help. I also wrote another lengthy post about tucking. You can check it out here. [Click Me] (https://www.susans.org/forums/index.php/topic,100031.msg741507.html#msg741507)
Quote from: cynthialee on August 13, 2011, 10:11:42 AM
Enter school as a woman as school will be your first steps into your profesional job. Some fields are small and how you were in school will be common knowledge. If you start as a woman you will always be a woman, if you start as a guy then transition to a woman they will remember you as the guy who became a girl.
What a great way to put it. If you establish yourself as female right away, it'll make it easier to go into your professional career as female.
Quote from: Samantharz on August 13, 2011, 11:37:42 AM
What a great way to put it. If you establish yourself as female right away, it'll make it easier to go into your professional career as female.
I would argue that you're potentially putting the cart before the horse. You have to finish uni in the first place to have a "professional career". I would worry less about what may or may not happen in the future and do the things I need to do to get an education first.
There are plenty of people who delayed transition to finish school and have a quite successfull career. There are just as many, if not more, that dropped out of school because they couldn't handle the pressure of trying to transition and going to school at the same time. Ask yourself who's in a better position, "professionally"? Again, I'll point out that you, by your own admission, don't pass 100% of the time. That being said, you will never be known as simply "female" throughout your time at university. You can go full time at any time in the next four years (or more) and still enter the adult working world as a female. That's your ultimate goal. Do what you have to do to make sure that happens and don't worry about anything else, even if it means delaying going full time at school until next year. For that matter, I get a sense you're looking at this as an all or nothing situation, either I'll go full time or I won't go at all. Find a happy middle ground...
regan brings up some good points. You should also look into whether or not they can list you as your preferred female name and not as your male name, because I assume you haven't had a name change yet.
It may be awkward to sit there in a dress and then they yell out "George" to call on you.
Quote from: cynthialee on August 13, 2011, 10:11:42 AM
Enter school as a woman as school will be your first steps into your profesional job. Some fields are small and how you were in school will be common knowledge. If you start as a woman you will always be a woman, if you start as a guy then transition to a woman they will remember you as the guy who became a girl.
This isn't necessarily the case. A lot of freshman courses can have upwards of 100-300 students; if you're going to a state university, that is. It is likely that after a couple years, few people will remember you from your freshman year, besides any close friends you've made during freshman year and how active you are in campus activities and what not. It's also possible that your classmates will just forget about the "guy" they thought you were. A lot can happen in those 4 years, people get busy, they move on, etc. A lot of freshmen enter college expecting it to be like high school and become quickly overwhelmed with how much more work and reading is involved. This can sometimes create a bit of tunnel vision and they stop noticing what's going on with other classmates, especially ones they are not in their clique, and especially if there are 300 people in the class. Also, students often switch majors a lot too. So you may be taking courses for one major and have classmates who have a problem with you in your courses who then may switch majors and no longer have the same courses as you. Also, even your major can vary in how people react. I'm a sociology major (I'm also 30, started college late =P) and have found that sociology majors are waaaay more accepting of us trans folk than, say, economics or business majors.
That said, I would say go for it and be full time. Don't waste any of your college years pretending to be someone you're not.
do it if you feel comfortable remember you have choice being a student these days is tough enough. you should be fine go for what is in your heart
I do lecture at University (Australian) and they appear to be very gender friendly. Young people at Uni are starting to challenge their ideas and ready to accept new ones. They also don't have many friends when they start and are eager to meet people. They also tend to want to experiment and for many it will inlude their first long term sexual encounter. And for many their first. So they do tend to be accepting.
That said there are always jerks.
Certainly in Aus Uni the staff are trained in anti-sex discrimination of any form, and are aware and look out for issues. And believe it or not the staff actually like the students :laugh:. We have been there as well and most of us are very aware of the problems you all face and are ready and able to help, if asked. Even with my enormous brain power ::) I cannot read minds. Body language yes, minds no.
Needless to say I have no problem with students who have any form of GID. And have been known to help people who need an old cow to talk to :laugh:
Enjoy the experience and go with confidence, if people don't like you ignore them if people do, embrace them.
Cindy
I believe the OP resides in the UK, so yes university is a perfect place to transition. it's also not hard to get names changed on degree, a-level and CGSE certificates so you shouldn't feel you have to because it will help you in the future. Do it because you're ready and you want to. :)
I'm going to hopefully be transitioning through university too. However I'll probably be starting as a guy mainly because I won't have hormones before then *sadface* and I also don't have anything to try appear female, no clothes, no make-up, and money to buy any of it. Plus I someone I know is going to the same university (and they don't know I'm trans) which should be interesting. Anyone have any experience with transitioning part-way through uni?
So I can't really offer any direct experience to OP but I've heard that people in universities tend to be pretty accepting.
I think i will go full time at uni because i feel it is the right time.
But because i'm not on hormones yet, i will be on my guard hehe. I will join the LGBT society for support and to make some good friends hopefully :)
I just hope the 5 other people in my accommodation block will be open minded. Luckily the university has LGBT policies so if they bully/discriminate against me i can report them and stop them. At least i have protection there.
I wonder how Nottingham as a city is trans friendly/open minded hehe :)
Its going to be a massive experience.
Thanks for your replies girls i really appreciate it :)
Quote from: Gravity's Child on August 16, 2011, 06:45:29 AM
I believe the OP resides in the UK, so yes university is a perfect place to transition. it's also not hard to get names changed on degree, a-level and CGSE certificates so you shouldn't feel you have to because it will help you in the future. Do it because you're ready and you want to. :)
and yes i do live in the UK hehe :D
Quote from: Nurse With Wound on August 16, 2011, 07:04:40 AM
I'm going to hopefully be transitioning through university too. However I'll probably be starting as a guy mainly because I won't have hormones before then *sadface* and I also don't have anything to try appear female, no clothes, no make-up, and money to buy any of it. Plus I someone I know is going to the same university (and they don't know I'm trans) which should be interesting. Anyone have any experience with transitioning part-way through uni?
So I can't really offer any direct experience to OP but I've heard that people in universities tend to be pretty accepting.
I really hope universities are more accepting that would be so good hehe.
Salisha x x
I'm began transitioning part-way through college. I'm also 30 (actually turn 31 next week) so I was not young and nubile when I began. lol. In other words, I had zero possibility of "passing" (don't like this word) when I transferred to this university. I attended a community college for two years, due to financial limitations, saved up money, then moved here to the beautiful state of Oregon. I wasn't able to be out or to begin transitioning prior to moving here. In fact, my first year here, I didn't know I could do the required three months of counseling for HRT for free through the health center on campus. While I had long since come to terms and accepted who I am, I was still grappling with the feasibility of transitioning and whether or not I would be able to do it given my financial situation and given that I had zero possibility of "passing." My first year here, I was paying out-of-state tuition and barely received enough financial aid money to cover the cost of tuition. I was also unable to find a job that first year and so I lived entirely off my savings. Whether or not I was able to afford to transition entirely hinged on whether or not I received residency status my second year, which drastically lowers the cost of tuition. And, luckily, I did. I also received a scholarship and a couple extra grants my second year. The summer prior to my second year here (I just finished my second year here) is when I discovered that I could go through the counseling for free on campus. I started that process over the summer, achieved residency status in the fall of last year, also landed an awesome job on campus, got a scholarship, started Spiro in September of last year, and Estrogen in December. My co-workers have so far been amazingly support and my professors have been too. Although, my field is sociology and so many of my professors are intrigued by my experiences from a sociological point of view. Although, not in an objectifying or demeaning way. I also changed my name part-way through this last academic year. Everyone has been really accommodating with that. It's been a little awkward in some situations when a professor or a TA comes up to me at work and says, "You're [insert old name here], right? I remember you from my one class. I really liked your final paper." This is while I'm sitting next to a co-worker who knows me by my new name and I have to awkwardly say, "Yeah, actually I go by Valyn now--legal name change and everything." They generally just respond with, "Oh, okay." I haven't really had any awkward situations where I bump into people from classes that I had when I first transferred. Some of them have probably graduated, others have completely forgotten about me or don't recognize me. Besides, more than anything, the people you want to stand out to are your professors and TAs. I have a couple professors who have been really impressed by my work and have been really supportive. One professor asked me to take her class in the fall because she thinks I will make a lot good contributions to the discussions and will bring a lot to the class. It's always an ego boost when a professor approaches you and says they want you to take their class. lol. I ended up talking to her after class for over an hour one day about trans issues (I had one of her other classes). She said talking to me has really inspired her to try to include more LGBT material. I also get TAs, who are grad students, interested in my work and my theories and want to talk to me about them outside of class. Another professor (I've had two of his classes now) has basically taken me under his wing and has become sort of a mentor. He's supervising my independent research project this summer and he has been really supportive. Anyway, the point of all this is that these people have supported me and treated me with the utmost respect. Me being a transwoman and going through this process at college has been a non-issue for them. They have looked past that and see me as a person, a student, and a future scholar. Although, they have acknowledged the issues and extra hardships I experience because of this process and they have been extremely supportive.
As for general advice that I offer to all students, regardless of whether or not they're trans, get to know your professors! This is especially important if you are considering, or think you might consider, going to grad school. You will need letters of recommendations from professors for grad school, which means your professors will need to know you and your work personally. And those letters of recommendations will, ideally, need to be from full professors and not adjunct faculty or TAs, who sometimes teach courses. Keep this in mind when you're choosing classes. Look at who's teaching the class and see if they are a full professor or adjunct or a TA. You probably won't have to worry about this as much your first year or two. But as you get to upper division courses, make sure you're taking a few courses taught by full professors and go to their office hours and talk to them, get to know them. Even if you're not going to grad school, letters of recommendation from full professors will come in handy in finding a job after you graduate.
I have been considerably lucky in my experience here. I think part of it just has to do with Oregon being more on the liberal end of the political spectrum and that my university has a very large queer/LGBT community. The presence of a large queer/LGBT community has basically forced the university to accommodate us--not that they needed much "forcing." Anyway, that's pretty much been my experience.
Quote from: valyn_faer on August 16, 2011, 10:28:34 AM
As for general advice that I offer to all students, regardless of whether or not they're trans, get to know your professors! This is especially important if you are considering, or think you might consider, going to grad school. You will need letters of recommendations from professors for grad school, which means your professors will need to know you and your work personally. And those letters of recommendations will, ideally, need to be from full professors and not adjunct faculty or TAs, who sometimes teach courses. Keep this in mind when you're choosing classes. Look at who's teaching the class and see if they are a full professor or adjunct or a TA. You probably won't have to worry about this as much your first year or two. But as you get to upper division courses, make sure you're taking a few courses taught by full professors and go to their office hours and talk to them, get to know them. Even if you're not going to grad school, letters of recommendation from full professors will come in handy in finding a job after you graduate.
Definitely concur on this...even for those who are not considering grad school and may not use profs for references. Grades matter. Many profs will talk around issues that will be on exams when students have made an effort to go by the office during office hours. It can also be a great help to be a known person if you need that slight bump come grading time at the end of the semester...the prof who knows his/her student may be more inclined to inflate a point or two which can make a HUGE difference in GPA and class ranking when all is said and done.
Knowing who is teaching a class is also good stuff to be aware of...especially for those who work AND go to school.
I'm just going to leave this here, I don't know if it's been posted, but there are some massive walls of text, and I need to leave for electro in 5 minutes.
@Samantharz: Your post was glorious. I've been stuck thinking I need to bring my heady resonance and pitch down into my chest, which has been trumping me. Glad to know I've been spot on when I've thought I'm only half way!!
As for the spectrogram setup tutorial. The link to download the program is broken. I know this because I use the same program and came across this setup guide from Kathe Perez. The program described in the tutorial can be downloaded at http://www.electronics-lab.com/downloads/cnt/fclick.php?fid=33 (http://www.electronics-lab.com/downloads/cnt/fclick.php?fid=33). Or alternatively you can, I think?, buy an improved version, VoicePrint, here: http://www.estillvoice.com/pages/clinical-software (http://www.estillvoice.com/pages/clinical-software). The only big difference between the free and the not free are resonance analysis features, which really don't understand how one would use them anyway, and a practice recording feature.
Oh this is kind of a bleak thought, but sometimes it's best to consider even the horrible options just in case, but how supportive are your family? Given the now quite frankly obscene cost of getting through uni in the UK having the financial support of your familly will be essential...if they are likely to be extremely unsupportive of your transition you may well be better getting through uni, and then transitioning. I hope that's not the case, but it is worth thinkng about because you're going to wrack more debt in three years of uni than i did in 5.
Quote from: Gravity's Child on August 16, 2011, 11:06:00 AM
Oh this is kind of a bleak thought, but sometimes it's best to consider even the horrible options just in case, but how supportive are your family? Given the now quite frankly obscene cost of getting through uni in the UK having the financial support of your familly will be essential...if they are likely to be extremely unsupportive of your transition you may well be better getting through uni, and then transitioning. I hope that's not the case, but it is worth thinkng about because you're going to wrack more debt in three years of uni than i did in 5.
My mum knows about my transition and is supportive so does a couple other family members. My dad know as well and isn't completely for it but isn't against it if that makes sense. My mum and dad are divorced as well by the way.
Just my grandparents to tell now :/
Luckily the university i'm going to is giving me a bursary hopefully of about £1000 each year to help with general stuff yay.
Salisha x x
Well that's defo good hun...also £1000 sounds like a lot, but it won't go far. You'll almost certainly have to work...i did cleaning work all through uni, pretty menial but paid for cider and things. I think my single biggest piece of advice if you are absolutely sure that you wish to transition is to change your name now. sort out bank account details in your new name, tax details, NI details...ID like a driving liscence. even if your UCAS is in your old name, you'll have a legal document of name change and your uni will update their records. Also when you finally get to the GIC if you've already done that it's a big big big plus in terms of showing you mean business
Quote from: Gravity's Child on August 16, 2011, 06:45:29 AM
I believe the OP resides in the UK, so yes university is a perfect place to transition. it's also not hard to get names changed on degree, a-level and CGSE certificates so you shouldn't feel you have to because it will help you in the future. Do it because you're ready and you want to. :)
Thats a good point too...though you can have just about any name printed on the degree you want (or even first initial, last name if you want to keep your options open), when you change your name, the uni will change their records to reflect that. Most employers wanting proof are going to ask for transcripts, not necessarily the degree (that's if they ask you directly and don't simply verify it in a background check). Worst case scenairo, just say you lost the degree - as long as your transcripts are legit it shouldn't be a problem.
Quote from: valyn_faer on August 16, 2011, 10:28:34 AM
As for general advice that I offer to all students, regardless of whether or not they're trans, get to know your professors! This is especially important if you are considering, or think you might consider, going to grad school. You will need letters of recommendations from professors for grad school, which means your professors will need to know you and your work personally. And those letters of recommendations will, ideally, need to be from full professors and not adjunct faculty or TAs, who sometimes teach courses. Keep this in mind when you're choosing classes. Look at who's teaching the class and see if they are a full professor or adjunct or a TA. You probably won't have to worry about this as much your first year or two. But as you get to upper division courses, make sure you're taking a few courses taught by full professors and go to their office hours and talk to them, get to know them. Even if you're not going to grad school, letters of recommendation from full professors will come in handy in finding a job after you graduate.
I got letters of reccomendation from my supervisors (I have three of them) that I got to know for at least six months before I applied to grad school. Yes status matters when you ask for reccomendation letters, but it should be relevant to your field. If you're going right from undergrad to grad, it may work, but since most people end up working between the two, make a good impression on your supervisors. Its the people in your field (which these days has less to do with your degree then ever) that will chart your course to grad school, not a professor you had sometime ago that, realistically, may or may not remember you. I'd highly reccomend having some "life experience" as well, virtually every grad program is going to want you to write some sort of "personal statement". Your essay will sound infintely better when you can relate your grad school goals, or talk about how something inspired you, when it actually happened and its not just some topic you discussed in some senior level "seminar" class.
Get to know your professors becuase if you're having problems in their class its alot easier to ask for extensions on project deadlines etc., you better have the grades to back it up though, if you're all but failing out of their class and suddenly ask for an extension on the final project, well your reputation speaks for itself.
Quote from: Gravity's Child on August 16, 2011, 11:23:59 AM
Well that's defo good hun...also £1000 sounds like a lot, but it won't go far.
One class for me in grad school costs about that much. I checked with my undergrad and that gets you about 4 credits (one, maybe two classes). Figure at least $100 in books
per class. That covers about two months in student housing for that matter.
Yeah, it goes pretty quick and doesn't get you a whole lot along the way. :(
Quote from: regan on August 16, 2011, 12:25:38 PM
I got letters of reccomendation from my supervisors (I have three of them) that I got to know for at least six months before I applied to grad school. Yes status matters when you ask for reccomendation letters, but it should be relevant to your field. If you're going right from undergrad to grad, it may work, but since most people end up working between the two, make a good impression on your supervisors. Its the people in your field (which these days has less to do with your degree then ever) that will chart your course to grad school, not a professor you had sometime ago that, realistically, may or may not remember you. I'd highly reccomend having some "life experience" as well, virtually every grad program is going to want you to write some sort of "personal statement". Your essay will sound infintely better when you can relate your grad school goals, or talk about how something inspired you, when it actually happened and its not just some topic you discussed in some senior level "seminar" class.
Get to know your professors becuase if you're having problems in their class its alot easier to ask for extensions on project deadlines etc., you better have the grades to back it up though, if you're all but failing out of their class and suddenly ask for an extension on the final project, well your reputation speaks for itself.
That's a good point, i will try to become buddies with my professors. I guess that will make things easier if i ever need a favor or something else. OH and that life experience info will help me when i go higher up if i want to, thank you :)
Salisha x x
Quote from: regan on August 16, 2011, 12:35:00 PM
One class for me in grad school costs about that much. I checked with my undergrad and that gets you about 4 credits (one, maybe two classes). Figure at least $100 in books per class. That covers about two months in student housing for that matter.
Yeah, it goes pretty quick and doesn't get you a whole lot along the way. :(
Urgh why does university cost so much its not fair !!!!!!
Its free in Scotland why cant it be free in England as well :(
Salisha x x
Quote from: Gravity's Child on August 16, 2011, 11:23:59 AM
Well that's defo good hun...also £1000 sounds like a lot, but it won't go far. You'll almost certainly have to work...i did cleaning work all through uni, pretty menial but paid for cider and things. I think my single biggest piece of advice if you are absolutely sure that you wish to transition is to change your name now. sort out bank account details in your new name, tax details, NI details...ID like a driving liscence. even if your UCAS is in your old name, you'll have a legal document of name change and your uni will update their records. Also when you finally get to the GIC if you've already done that it's a big big big plus in terms of showing you mean business
Yeah i'm trying to get a transfer from my little part time food superstore job, if that does not work i'm going to have to start looking for another one when i get there :/
Oh also how would i go about changing my name would i have to contact the government etc
thanks for you help :)
Salisha x x
Hi there! I just gone thru year one in university in Canada myself, I started taking hormones and transitioning just half a year before uni started (I had a semester off after high school), so that worked out pretty well, if you are not fully ready but want to go full time in uni, I think defering the start in uni is a good way to go (if it's possible) so you can transition in stealth during that time. It's best to clear out any emotional problems before starting, if not it's gonna crush you, and the workload is really really heavy for me as a life-sci student. My experience was pretty good, although mostly people couldn't tell I'm trans, but I came in with a male name :( although I write my Chinese name on assignments and tests insted so people won't know, and used my female name when socializing, our classes are huge and TAs/profs doesn't know our name, so it was fine. When dealing with student loan and stuff, I still had to show my ID, and the people in the registrar office knows about my gender, but they still were very polite to me and didn't discriminate. I changed my name mid-way thru the semester legally, and it was really great that I don't have to hide my student ID from others anymore. I've told some close friends that I met in uni that im trans, but they were all fine and frendly and didn't treat me differently at all, people in uni are definately alot more mature than high school kids, I even got bullied pretty bad back in high school.
Quote from: regan on August 16, 2011, 12:25:38 PM
Get to know your professors becuase if you're having problems in their class its alot easier to ask for extensions on project deadlines etc., you better have the grades to back it up though, if you're all but failing out of their class and suddenly ask for an extension on the final project, well your reputation speaks for itself.
Better yet, get drunk with your lecturers :laugh:
Quote from: salisha on August 16, 2011, 01:51:06 PM
Yeah i'm trying to get a transfer from my little part time food superstore job, if that does not work i'm going to have to start looking for another one when i get there :/
Oh also how would i go about changing my name would i have to contact the government etc
thanks for you help :)
Salisha x x
There are a couple of ways, a deed poll, or a statutory declaration. I got my stat dec done at a solicitors, it cost about £117 and as soon as I signed the bit of paper that was it, my name was now legally helena. All I had to do then was get my tax and NI updated, new phone, bank details changed, driving liscence...still have to do my passport, but i've not been out of the country for years so it didn't really matter too much.