Where I am standing as a non traditional student?

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Gharibe

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I am 40 years old applicant and I have plan to apply for dental school this coming June.I came here in U.S 5 years ago as a refugee with my family.In my country of origin I had no right to access higher education due to restrictions against religious minorities. When I came here I decided to peruse path to dentistry .Despite all difficulties and barriers I started from scratch I mean undergraduate level without pervious higher education.I almost done with my undergrad as a cell biology major.I took my DAT recently OC 22- GC 20- Bio 21- RC 21- PAT 18- QR 17. My GPA is 3.9 and 3.7 science GPA.BUT there is a problem .I don't have any dental experience or even shadowing here because always I had to work full time and study full time to take care of my family here .Do you think I am a good applicant despite lack of dental experience ? I just have to mention that I have some shadowing in my country but it is about more than 20 years ago when I was in high school

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I think it is admirable what you have done. That is a great story and triumph. I think you are a great applicant at many schools but the shadowing could hold you back slightly. If you perceive it as a weakness, it would suit you well to remedy it. After you graduate, or even before then, there is a month or two where you could get some shadowing experience as you're applying to dental school and include on your application still. Even if you found somewhere where you can volunteer or shadow for 20 hours a week and you get that for two weeks that will still be a very notable experience. But it may be hard to find something where you can cram that much shadowing into a short period of time but it is possible.
 
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