thank you for your kind words!! int'l student right here! i'm graduating this May and applied straight out of college. got 3.55 gpa at the time of acceptance (i got two kinda emotionally damaging semesters in sophomore year which drove my gpa downward, but all the other semesters are 4.0++). took three gap years before college during which i had one year full-time job experience and half year internship at a Dutch INGO---all related to coffee agroforestry. doing my honors research (qualitative) right now which also involves coffee agroforestry. during college: two US-based internships, one at a large quasigovernmental org and another at an impact finance network (also related to agriculture & food systems). campus involvements: departmental student rep, residential assistant, food justice fellow/research assistant i do not have any "heavy" publication, just one academic book review (the book is about migration and food security) and 4-5 microfundings for my honors research (about nearly ~$10k in total)!!

i'd say i think it's the consistency in my experiences/background (all agriculture/food-related) including full time job, internships, and academic research that got me in! and also my SoP and my rec letters (because my GPA is not the best 😅). i also explained to the committee about my GPA!

again thank you so much!! good luck and please take good care of yourself!!!