Hey guys,

I am getting my first T shot on Tuesday. I am extremely excited!  However I am somewhat apprenhensive about it because I think of the difficulties that will lie ahead of me and i guess that is natural for a person to have seconds thoughts.  The thing that i think that i will find the most difficult is the change at uni.  I am not worried about my family, they all know and are find with it as best as the can be.

If any other guys who have been to uni or are going to uni whilst transitioning, give any helpful hints of how to deal with it, it would greatly be appreciated.  Its hard to walk in as being seen as a "girl" one day and then a guy the  "next". 

Hayden

Hayden, I just posted on another thread that I will be starting T soon and am very apprehensive. I won't have the shot for another five weeks or so, though, so I still have time to plan my transition strategy. Alas, that also means that I have plenty of time to stress out, too.

I don't think we're in very similar situations, though. Yes, I am at a university, but as an instructor rather than a student. I presume that you are a student? Also, you appear to be in Oz, whereas I am in the U.S. I don't know how much that changes things, but I do know that a lot depends on your particular school.

As soon as the new term starts, I plan to go to my campus LGBT office and talk to the representative there. I suggest that you do the same if you have that option. The folks there may very well have dealt with transitioning students before and might have valuable advice for you. If not, you haven't lost anything.

I feel that coming out in a "regular" workplace situation is quite different from coming out at university, regardless of whether the transitioner is a professor or a student. It is relatively easy to deal with one's particular department and inform relevant staff and faculty of the change. The classroom and the student population are a different story, as you implied in your post.

You might need to talk to each of your instructors about your situation. I strongly suggest that you do this with the advice and support of whatever LGBT allies are available on campus. If there is no such organization, you might try the counseling center.

I also think that it's probably better to present as male from the very beginning. If you are starting a new term soon (summer term?) but won't be fully passable yet, you should present as male anyway. Use your male name (have you changed it legally yet?), request male pronouns, and bind if that's part of your presentation. These steps will make it easier for people to accept the physical changes when they do begin to manifest. You won't be suddenly leaping from girl to boy; it will be more like androgyne to boy. Or perhaps boy with delayed puberty finally hits his stride. Something like that.

Susan's has a wiki entry on coming out at work--it doesn't seem to mention coming out at school, but you might find it helpful.

https://www.susans.org/wiki/A_Guide_to_Coming_Out_at_the_Workplace

I expect that other people will weigh in soon.

Keep us in the loop, okay?

Everything Arch said sounds good. I've come out at school, and I did that by coming out to close friends, then rest of friends, then emailed teachers/facebooked everyone else to request male pronouns. Then again I've always presented as male, so it was more expected.

I don't think you really need to do anything as such other than  request a name change on the student register if you are making one.  Obviously you will prefer to be referred to by male pronouns so perhaps you could make your teachers/ friends/ classmates aware of this fact by speaking to them or maybe just your close friends and teachers and let your classmates catch up when they hear your friends and tutors using male pronouns to refer to you.

This would all probably go hand in hand with the name change anyway since people will probably question why you are making it. 

Other than that just present as you feel comfortable, let people assume what they will, I just don't see the need for any big announcement here I am sure everyone will catch up eventually.

Oh yeah and congrats on starting T, I can understand you probably do feel a little apprehensive about it but I am sure you are prepared for it.  I will be starting T myself in a couple of weeks so we will probably be going through similar things.

Good luck and if you want someone to chat to feel free to message me.