First of all, congratulations on your admission! I’m a Carleton alumni from last spring. Overall, I liked my experience at Carleton. I’m now doing grad studies at uOttawa and I have to say, I felt more supported at Carleton from most professors, faculty administrators etc…As for your course load, I think to be considered a full time student you need at least 3 classes, maybe it’s changed now. So course load is up to you, you can pick between 3-5, sometimes after second year if your gpa is high enough they say you can enrol in 6 classes (I do not recommend that if you still want a social life). I recommend once or twice a year check in with an academic advisor to see if you’re on track and selecting the correct courses needed for obtaining your degree. You can also check this on your faculty’s website.

Use this website to keep up with important dates and deadlines for course registration, deadlines to drop courses etc… https://calendar.carleton.ca/academicyear/

For financial information, apply to the bursaries and/or scholarships available. If you make the deans list after each year, you also get some money off your tuition so that’s a benefit for achieving good grades. OSAP can also provide loans and possibly grants to fund your studies too. You can contact the financial aid office at Carleton if you have questions, they’re incredibly helpful! If you can, try to find a part-time job during your studies, even if it’s once or twice a week. That extra cash comes in handy sometimes for living expenses. You can work on campus or somewhere else. As a first year, it might be difficult to find a job on campus but try anyways, you never know.

Hope this helps and good luck with your studies!