Jonathan Cayer off to Yale
Jonathan Cayer discovered his passion for classical texts at the Liberal Arts College. “It was difficult for me to decide what I wanted to do in grad school because of the diversity of material we encounter there.”
Photo by andrew dobrowolskyj
Jonathan Cayer has received a full scholarship to pursue his PhD in French Literature at Yale University.
Cayer, who just completed his BA in Western Society and Culture through the Liberal Arts College (LAC), claims he applied on a whim.
“I was looking for a school that had a strong commitment to multidisciplinary work and a wonderful French Literature program that focused on medieval studies.
“But I never expected to get in,” let alone with funding that covers tuition, living and all other expenses, he said. “I almost fainted when I got the phone call.”
Cayer said that when he started his degree, the LAC fostered his budding admiration for preeminent classical texts through its core curriculum, in which students study the great books of Western Civilization from antiquity to the present.
Had he not gone to the LAC, he would not have received “the education of my dreams,” he said. “I come from small-town Quebec, and went to public schools where courses like this didn’t exist.”
His entrance into the program was an act of serendipity. While completing his application for Concordia four years ago, he noticed he could apply for two majors. When he checked the one in Western Society and Culture, he didn’t know he had applied to the LAC until he received information about it in the mail.
His first choice had been political science, in order to pursue a career with the United Nations.
In high school, he went on an exchange to Washington, D.C. to learn English. He arrived there three weeks before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
During this time, he also did fundraising and volunteered for with a local humanitarian aid agency, and has travelled to Nicaragua to work on development projects.
Despite his ongoing love of all things political, “once I discovered this world [of the LAC], I completely fell for it.”
Cayer won two Liberal Arts scholarships while at the College, and is a regular on the Dean’s List. He also received a coveted TAship awarded to a select few.
Just as Cayer never expected to attend a top-tier U.S. university, his passion for medieval French literature—which is not studied at the LAC—also caught him by surprise.
“It was my spirit of contradiction that pushed me in that direction."