I'm an incoming Harvard freshman. I'm nervous I won't fit in with the rich kids on campus as a financial-aid student.

• Since I don't have rich parents or many connections, I could not see myself going to Harvard.
• But during the application process, I suddenly pictured myself there, so I applied.
• I was accepted; I'm excited but nervous I won't fit in. 

As a rising senior in high school, I was in Boston last summer to visit MIT, Northeastern, and Boston University. At the time, Harvard wasn't in the picture. It seemed like an elitist club meant for the ultrawealthy. As a middle-class student from Illinois, I thought Harvard wasn't built for people like me.