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

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.