Future Students

Student working

The Pathologists’ Assistant program is the first program of its kind accredited in Canada. Pathologists’ Assistants (PAs) are highly-trained health professionals who work under the supervision of a medically-qualified pathologist providing a broad range of services in anatomic pathology.

The extra technical skills brought to the laboratory by PAs standardize and enhance the overall quality in the practice of anatomic pathology. PAs assume major responsibility for the initial examination and dissection of all surgically removed tissues and, to a variable extent, for the dissection of bodies during post-mortem examination.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR INTERNATIONAL APPLICANTS

Study Permit Processing
International applicants should be aware that a condition of admission is having a valid study permit. IRCC provides estimated study permit processing times on this site.

The Department will not offer admission deferrals pending receipt of a study permit or any other documents required as a condition of admission.

Minimum Financial Requirements
As of September 2025, the new minimum financial requirement for living expenses for new study permit applications is $22,895 for an individual student. Please see the Documents Required for a Study Permit Application section for more details.

New Study Permit Cap Announcement
In light of the Canadian government’s ongoing changes to the country’s immigration policies, and the concomitant impact on our graduate programs here at Western, the School of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies (SGPS) has created a new web page: Changes to Canadian Study Permit Policies.

This page will now act as a dedicated space (the “gold standard”) for all graduate program-related study permit information moving forward. We have also included a link to the new Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) "processing times" tool so applicants can get a better sense of how long it may take to process their study permit application. This page will be updated on an ongoing basis as we continue to receive new information in collaboration with Western International and our other partners across campus.