<p>I feel like I'm facing a fairly unique situation with transferring, but I'm wondering if anyone on CC might have some experience, or at least an idea of how things will be handled with my transfer application.</p>
<p>What will make my application so odd? I was born into a male body, but was born with ambiguous chromosomes (XXYY syndrome.) For as long as I can remember I've felt like I should have been a girl, from at least as early on as the age of 6 when my dad broke my arm for my telling him how I felt. </p>
<p>When I entered puberty I became intensely depressed about the changes that were going on. I have a simultaneous autism spectrum disorder, and I had to withdraw from high school because I felt so bad that I just couldn't get out of bed some days. I stopped talking almost entirely for 2 years, because I just couldn't interact with people. I self-studied and earned a high school diploma, but technically wasn't in school past the 9th grade. I'm very bright, and read quite a bit in this time, but this is the first point in my application that is going to stand out and look bad.</p>
<p>I enrolled at my state university, and loaded up on science classes. Meanwhile, my depression got a lot worse, and after a few quarters my grades began to plummet. I eventually started to see a psychiatrist, who was convinced that my gender identity problems were obsessive-compulsive disorder coupled with depression. He prescribed a number of treatments that were very harmful, and I ended up having to withdraw with medical leave because of the stress they caused. </p>
<p>I've started seeing a new psychiatrist, and she agrees that transitioning is in my best interest, in terms of my mental health. I'm going to begin hormone therapy and everything else soon, and I'd like to re-enroll in university. I am welcome to return to my former school (my gpa is like a 3.3, though I had a 3.9+ before my depression got worse.) Problems arise here though. My current university has informed me that I would still be considered male for all intents and purposes, and would have a male roommate. I would also be required to meet male requirements for dress codes and other gender specific functions. There also aren't any unisex bathrooms available in the residence halls, so I'd have to use the men's room.</p>
<p>I had some other miscellaneous problems with my university, but my psychologist and psychiatrist agree that it would be in my best interest to be somewhere that I can transition. I have a few questions regarding this.</p>
<p>1.) Will schools judge my application through a different lens because of my gender dysphoria? I mean this in either way; will I be viewed as a URM, a freak, or just another applicant?</p>
<p>2.) Will schools be willing to take my depression into account when considering my grades, and will they be willing to look more closely at work I've done since then? I eventually would like to research in evolutionary biology, and have published 3 papers in eminent journals of my eventual field. I've also written a book that I'm trying to get published. Will schools be willing to look past my poor performance while I was mentally ill?</p>
<p>3.) Will my lack of high school record seriously hurt me?</p>