Reading through some of the older posts on this thread, I wanted to offer some encouraging information to any transgender/gender diverse individuals who are applying/considering applying to med school.
I'm still quite visibly trans, and thus far, my experience has been overwhelmingly positive. I attend a med school in the South (MD program), and all of my professors, administrative figures, teaching physicians, and fellow med students (save one exception) have been nothing but kind and supportive. That one exception was a classmate who apparently was deliberately describing me as a man, but wonderfully enough, this person was rapidly put in their place by one of my peers.
The one major thing I've faced on my journey was beginning to present as a woman at the same time I was starting med school. Admittedly, the coinciding of these two major life transitions (pun not intended) left me feeling fairly overwhelmed for a couple of months, and thus, I went through a nasty phase of depression. Although everyone has a different path towards recovering from depression, my path involved a combination of caring friends and free counseling/psych services through my school. Although resilience is a term regularly applied in these situations, an equally important concept is being willing to fight the stigma and ask for help when you need it.
To sum things up, the trend seems to be that barriers are rapidly coming down. Of course, this will vary based on individual people and institutions. Regardless, if you are a qualified and empathetic candidate, being non-cis should not discourage you from applying if that is what you want to do. You may face some challenges along the way, but tools are often readily accessible for overcoming them!
To whomever this is relevant, feel free to ask me whatever you wish!
