Not All Students On Financial Aid Have Trouble Fitting In

To the editors:



I am writing in response to Michael M. Grynbaum’s article “Recruiting a New Elite” (Nov. 18, news). I am here at Harvard largely because of the Harvard Financial Aid Initiative. However, unlike the girl from Oklahoma who rejected Harvard in favor of a state university, I don’t want to be a housewife. And although I come from Alabama, a state “where not very many students come to Harvard,” I usually don’t refer to people who live in New England as “a bunch of elitist northern Yankees,” as Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid William R. Fitzsimmons ’67 says many other students from similar states do.

I have not had a miserable time here because of my (comparable) lack of means. I’ve found that­—quite to the contrary of the opinions in this article­—if people realize my financial state, they not only accept me, but they also have a large amount of respect for me. I have had to jump over the same “hurdles” as the “students of privilege” that Fitzsimmons mentions.

Am I corrupting Harvard’s image of “social superiority” just because I own fewer material things than other people? As a “non-college, blue-collar kid,” I think I am quite capable of “us[ing] Harvard’s resources as well as other people would,” despite Fitzsimmons’ fears that I cannot.



JESSICA A. ESTEP ’09

November 21, 2005