Looking for trans-friendly colleges

theotherside4 · July 2019

Hi! I'm a trans man at a women's college looking to transfer for the spring 2020 semester. I've tried Googling to find trans-friendly schools, but I've mostly found lists of general LGBT inclusion and unfortunately, acceptance of LGB people doesn't always mean acceptance of trans people as well. Academically, I think I'm a pretty strong applicant (3.83 GPA, 2350 SAT on the old scale), but I've taken two leaves of absence due to mental health so I'm worried some schools will see me as a liability. I'm an English major (so no tech schools).
I'm from New Hampshire and my parents want me to be relatively close to home, so I'm focusing on schools in the northeast (and some in the mid-Atlantic, but I might not be able to convince them to let me go there.) This list is very long and very tentative since I just began looking at schools recently, but please let me know if any of them strike you as particularly good or bad schools for a trans person, or if there's a school that seems to be a good fit that I'm missing (note that some schools, unfortunately, don't accept spring transfers, like Bates and Bowdoin.)
Boston University
Vassar
Univ of Rochester
Wesleyan
Skidmore
UNH (closest to my home)
UVM
Bucknell
Ithaca
Lafayette
Juniata
Muhlenberg
Ursinus
Syracuse
Union
Gettysburg
Dickinson
Hamilton
American U
Clark
William and Mary
Emerson

washugrad · July 2019

I've got a trans kid going into senior year of high school. We've toured a number of schools, some on your list and a few others. So no direct experience actually living on campus yet... this is based on tours, etc. Of your list we toured Vassar, Wesleyan, and Rochester. Wesleyan fell off her list for other reasons but I think it's very trans-friendly. The other 2 are staying on the list for now. She also liked NYU and Tufts in the NE area although I've since heard from a mom of a gender nonbinary kid that NYU was problematic as far as bathrooms go (not very many all-gender bathrooms on that campus). BTW that friend goes to University of Oregon which has a gender equity floor in their dorms and all-gender bathrooms all over campus if you want to look further west.
Also on my kid's list are a few more schools outside of your geographic range - Carleton, Macalester, Reed, St Olaf*, UC Santa Cruz as a local option. St Olaf might be the most problematic as far as housing goes... they are very open and inclusive and all that BUT up until now still have their housing segregated by floor (all men's floors and all women's floors, only). They would be fine with a trans man living on the men's floor and vice versa but you might still feel awkward depending on where you are in your transition. But in my daughter's interview on campus she brought the issue up and the admissions person said they've been getting more and more questions about having a gender equity floor or a nonbinary floor or something along those lines and it's likely to happen 'soon'.
Anyway, good luck on finding the right fit.

Knowsstuff · July 2019

Emerson might be your most liberal. I would think most schools that have theater would also like Muhlenberg, Ithaca, Ursinus, and Juanita (nice list by the way).
Personally, kinda hard to determine which schools are more Trans friendly. Is there an association that might be able to help?

Knowsstuff · July 2019

https://www.accreditedschoolsonline.org/resources/transgender-student-support/

brantly · July 2019

Tufts, if they take spring transfers. I also agree with Clark, Wesleyan, and Vassar. I'd take Union off your list. Although I don't know specifically about the institution's friendliness toward trans people, the student body is kind of traditional and known for "bros."

SpiritManager · July 2019

Bard College accepts spring transfers.

gardenstategal · July 2019

UVM was a good place for a non-binary friend. They found it accepting and had a tight friend group. Ditto Wes for another non-binary friend (also English major).. Vassar and Bard would be good choices. I agree with @brantly that the vibe at Union probably isn't what you are looking for and would include Bucknell and Gettysburg in the same group.

A trans friend thrived at Haverford, btw, and was super happy there.

pishicaca · July 2019

New term injected into the CC lexicon through this thread: trans-fer

Good luck in the search for your new school!

warblersrule · July 2019

@Knowsstuff linked a great resource. A couple more links that may help:

https://www.campuspride.org/tpc/

http://www.collegeequalityindex.org/list-colleges-gender-neutral-housing

Lynnski · July 2019

My trans kid will be starting at Brandeis this fall, and we're 💯 stoked about it. The school was founded on principals of inclusivity and seems to take lgbTq inclusion very seriously. For example, two full gender-inclusive floors for entering first-years, nongendered bathrooms everywhere, and a FT member of counseling staff who is proudly trans. I was also impressed by the trans-affirmative sense I got at Wesleyan. Speaking as a parent, the PA schools seem far away if you might need and value family support. Good luck!

Looking for trans-friendly colleges

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