europeorbust

I have a bit of a dilemma that I'm trying to puzzle my way through. I am currently pursuing a degrees in Computer Science and International Relations. I have really good grades in my IR program (>3.7), but really terrible grades in my CS program (~3.0). This is due to a lack of preparedness for the rigor of the STEM classes I was taking coupled with a few personal issues that impacted my performance overall. Overall I have a GPA that's around a 3.47, and I was hoping to get that up to a 3.5, but due to a really bad last semester (too many classes and responsibilities), that's unlikely to happen now. I want to eventually get a doctorate in International Relations, but I am trying to also use my technical experience as a pitch to differentiate me from other applicants (since I focus on IR policy in tech), and do have an interest in utilizing my technical skills in research and occupational capacities in the future. I do have research experience -- I've published a paper in comparative politics and am currently working on one in data science that will hopefully be published soon. I currently have a software engineering internship lined up for the summer, but I have an option to drop one of my classes now and retake it over the summer, when I would have much more time to invest the necessary effort to get a good grade and push my GPA up. However, this would require me to drop the software engineering internship. Basically what I'm trying to figure out is if its worth it to drop an internship with valuable work experience for the sake of getting my GPA up to that 3.5 threshold. Part of me thinks its probably better to just get accepted to a Master's Program somewhere and do really well with the work experience, but I'm not completely sure. It's still possible for me to graduate with a 3.5, but it's just very unlikely given the amount of time I know I need to invest.

I am currently a student at a top 3 US public uni and am working toward a STEM degree and an IR degree. My IR GPA is very good (somewhere around 3.7-3.8-ish), but as you can imagine, my STEM GPA is rubbish. My overall GPA is around a 3.4. I really want to go to graduate school in Europe to study IR and international security, focusing on cybersecurity and internet governance, preferably at a place like Sciences Po or King's. My issue is that I know European schools are very strict about GPA cutoffs. I do have some classes from community college and other universities through summer programs that can back me up but I'm not completely sure if it's enough to push me over the line without doing some wonky math I'm not entirely confident in. I've had research experience and have had my work published in a journal. I've had a variety of extracurriculars related to my field and in public policy (well as far as a college student can get into public policy anyway). I did have some really insane life issues that lead to uneveness in my grades (particularly in the last 18 months, big family problems affected me deeply and pushed me into therapy for depression). But I wonder if any of this can make up for the fact that my cumulative GPA might not be over the magic 3.5 cutoff line.