Transgender Graduate Students: Considerations, Tensions, and Decisions in Choosing a Graduate Program

This study explored how 30 trans graduate students made decisions regarding graduate school. Specifically, it examined how the students chose their graduate program and, secondarily, how they chose their field, what led them to apply to graduate school, and their outness during the application process. In selecting a program, participants considered contextual and personal factors that encompassed commonly cited academic and pragmatic circumstances (e.g., reputation; cost) and factors salient to their gender identity, including state and university climate. Participants identified a number of tensions in choosing a program (e.g., whether to prioritize academic factors over program climate)—although some could not prioritize program climate because their field (e.g., STEM) was not LGBTQ savvy. In applying to graduate school, participants weighed the benefits of being out as trans (e.g., authenticity; finding a “good fit”) and risks (e.g., discrimination). Findings have implications for higher education administrators, career counselors, clinicians, and researchers.