Ontario Academic Credit - OAC

[asifc]

Hi,

I am thinking of enrolling into TESC/EC, and have some OAC credits (Ontario Grade 13). Does anyone know if these credits are accepted as post secondary credits? I have two French OACs I would like to use for my Humanities requirement.

Thanks,
Asif

[zefrench]

I do not know about TESC, but any ways I could think of was requiring to be registered into a another school and then transfer, which was not cost effective for me. EC would not accept AOC as is, and the credit eveluation service (WES etc) would not consider them either.

If you know French, it is much easier paperworkwise to jsut take the French Clep and/or the French ACTFL.

[Naffy]

Hi Asifc,
I am in the exact same situation as you. I am enrolled at TESC and have OAC credits which I need to graduate. WES did not give me credits for them, what did you end up doing? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

[OE800_85]

OAC credits are high school credits. They shouldn't count as college credit. There's no way.

Yeah, like the other poster said. If that OAC French is fresh in your head, you should be able to do the CLEP French, which is worth between 6 and 12 credits.

[Jonathan Whatley]

OAC credits are high school credits. They shouldn't count as college credit. There's no way.

In principle, when this is stated absolutely, I disagree. OAC credits and the OAC year (grade 13 level) were optional supplements beyond the basic official requirements for the OSSD high school diploma. U.S. undergraduate credit is offered widely for International Baccalaureate, British A-levels and, apparently, similar credit internationally.

In practice, I agree that OAC credits are probably significantly less often accepted for U.S. college credit credit than IB, British A-level, etc. And OAC credits and the OAC year were phased out in 2003. The only students from Ontario a U.S. college could hope to attract by accepting them today would be years past traditional age, and this is probably a practical count against it's happening in some cases.

[Johann]

I, too, have OAC credits -- it is now 53 years since I earned them! I have infested the degree fora for quite some years and - unlike the UK A-levels cited in Jonathan's link - I have NEVER seen a situation in which OAC - Grade 13 subjects were directly convertible to credits at an accredited American college or university. Yes, there might be some odd situation where OAC-Grade 13 might be useful in the UK, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia or South Africa- but I also know for a FACT that you can - with good enough Grade 12 marks - qualify to enter OXFORD without OAC. I read once that Oxford requires at least 85% Grade 12 marks from Ontario High School grads.

I DID receive credit for OAC-Grade 13 subjects when I enrolled (night school) in a Canadian Community College, about 25 years after High School. The College gave me 2 credits apiece for the 8 OAC exams I had decent marks in. I had barely passed a ninth - Chemistry, so received no college credit for it. That gave me 16 credits towards the 76 I ultimately earned for a 2-year diploma. They even gave me 4 credits for my two OAC Latin exams (Authors and Composition) and I don't believe Latin was EVER taught in Ontario Community Colleges!

The sole purpose of the OAC (Grade 13) year was qualifying for first year at any Ontario University. Ontario got its first Community Colleges in 1967 and as of then, you could go to Community College after Grade 12, although Grade 13 remained the only direct way from High School to University. I believe Ontario (where I live) was the only Province that had Grade 13. The Grade 13 requirement for University was totally abolished about 10 years ago.

My take: Only way you're going to get U.S. credit for OAC-Grade 13 is by passing a CLEP, DSST etc. or challenge exam based on what you've learned.

Johann

[Naffy]

I have to disagree. I attended a 4 year accredited college in NYC and they accepted MY OAC credits at 3 credits a piece. I never graduated, only went there for one year. I am now banking all my credits at TESC, and WES, ECE, and Ed perspective have denied me for OAC credit. And since TESC does not approve credits based on other colleges' transfers, and only count on 4 agencies, they will not accept my OACs. I have 3 courses listed that I really need to graduate, His of Western Civilization, Math, and Eng Comp. Still looking for that miracle to see if anyone out there got TESC to approve OACs somehow.

[OE800_85]

I hate to break it to you, but you're essentially trying to force this. I went to high school in Ontario. I was part of the double cohort. I can tell you, categorically, OAC material is NOT college level. The ontario system was extremely out of date and made high school 5 years for no good reason. My year, even though we were the first, learnt the same amount in only 4 years, as opposed to 5. The only way you're getting credit for OAC is with a bit of dishonesty and trickery. AP/IB are totally different. They are accelerated programs (read: much more difficult than OAC, actual college level work) for gifted students that actually cover college material, just like CLEP/DSST. I'm sorry the system made you waste a year of highschool (it was a foolishly designed program) but you won't get anything for it.

**Edit: Either way, if you do know the college level material, passing a CLEP/DSST should be no problem at all. A simple 100 dollars and 90 minutes and you're done.

[Johann]

Summary:

OE00_85: "It was a foolishly designed program." Indeed it was! That's why they abolished it! :o

Johann: "Only way you're going to get U.S. credit for OAC-Grade 13 is by passing a CLEP, DSST etc. or challenge exam based on what you've learned." Yep.

OE00_85: "if you do know the college level material, passing a CLEP/DSST should be no problem at all. A simple 100 dollars and 90 minutes and you're done." Uh-huh.

Naffy: "Still looking for that miracle to see if anyone out there got TESC to approve OACs somehow." Not gonna happen. Suggest CLEP-prep, starting now.

Johann

[Johann]

I can tell you, categorically, OAC material is NOT college level....it was a foolishly designed program...you won't get anything for it.

As an old OAC grad, I must admit to the truth, OE00_85. All of the above! Looking back, I'm sure the Canadian College credit I received for OAC was basically a marketing device. Nothing like a bit of "instant credit" to lure prospective adult students back to school! The Colleges did that sort of thing - the Universities didn't. Different rules, I suppose. Funny, how I found out about it. The college I was already attending at night had a booth at a fair. The lady there told me about the OAC credit provisions, so I took my (then) 25-year-old high school transcript to school the next Monday. I went from having 25 college credits to 41 credits, overnight. That's the first and last time OAC credits were of any real use to me, in the 53 years since I earned them.

Back then (80s) it was pretty near impossible (at least in Ontario) to get credit for college work at universities - although good American schools just across the border would give a college student with good marks "time served" for his/her Canadian 2-year diploma and enrol them in third year. The schools also granted 50% off tuition -- still an astronomical amount in Canadian terms. Full tuition at the good NY State schools THEN was about $15K a year. My side of the border, University tuition was (then) under $4K.

Johann