Hi guys, I have a similar story to tell.
During my last year in college I applied for a Phd in the US (completely unprepared) and got rejected. After that I was extremely pissed off with academia (thought I didn't deserve to be rejected, etcs) and kind of stoped caring for a semester. My grades went from a solid 8,0/10 to a 2,2/10. Then I got myself together, started a master's degree and worked hard enough to get a great GPA at graduate school, a 3.6 ish. And also have a few publications, one first author, to try to hide this fact.
This year I am applying again to graduate school in the US, and I have no idea on how to explain my mental breakdown (figuratively speaking here) and horrible semester. What should I do?