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.
