Why Ottawa?
When people talk about Carleton, they often mention “the Capital advantage”. What exactly is “the Capital advantage”?
Ottawa is a city that rewards curiosity. As a graduate student at Carleton, you’ll find yourself living and studying in a place that genuinely punches above its weight — a compact, walkable, bilingual capital city with world-class cultural institutions, stunning natural landscapes, and a remarkably unpretentious character.
Seven of Canada’s nine national museums are right here: the Agriculture and Food Museum, the Aviation and Space Museum, the Science and Technology Museum, the Canadian Museum of History, the Museum of Nature, the War Museum, and the National Gallery of Canada. Add to that the National Arts Centre, the Canadian Film Institute, Library and Archives Canada, and the Canada Council for the Arts, and you start to get a sense of what’s on your doorstep.
The Carleton campus itself sits at a genuinely beautiful intersection of the Rideau River, Dow’s Lake, and the historic Rideau Canal — a UNESCO World Heritage Site where you can explore by boat in summer and skate the world’s longest naturally frozen rink in winter. When you want to get out of the city, the Gatineau Hills are close by for hiking, skiing, and paddling.
Ottawa’s metropolitan area is home to over one million people, with an extensive cycling network, reliable transit, and the kind of walkability that makes daily life genuinely pleasant. Summers reach the low 30s; winters are brisk and snowy in the best possible way; spring and fall settle into a comfortable 16 to 20 degrees.
The city has real depth, and you’ll have plenty of room to explore it.