Graduate Student Recruitment FAQs

Updated June 2, 2025听

Applying to the RADD Lab as a PhD Student

Graduate Recruitment for: Roselinde Kaiser, PhD,听

Director, Research on Affective Disorders and Development Lab

NOTE: Dr. Kaiser reviews applications for PhD students, both from the Clinical program and from the Cognitive program. Applicants to the Cognitive program must also select a co-mentor who is a Cognitive area faculty.

Will you be reviewing applications to potentially accept a new PhD student to begin in Fall 2026?

Yes, I will be reviewing applications in the upcoming cycle. My lab accepts applications submitted to either the Clinical Psychology PhD Program and the听Cognitive Psychology PhD Program. Both programs are housed within the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience at CU Boulder. If you are applying as a Cognitive candidate, you should also select a faculty member in the Cognitive area who would be a co-mentor.

How do I know if I am a 鈥済ood fit鈥 for the RADD Lab?

Candidates who are a 鈥済ood fit鈥 for this laboratory are those with interests, experiences, and goals that align closely with the mission and work of our research group. This usually means folks who are interested in both clinical psychology and neuroscience, but could also include candidates whose interests lie at the intersection of clinical psychology and other disciplines like cognitive psychology or computer science. Students who thrive in our group have interdisciplinary interests, are enthusiastic about learning new methods and quantitative approaches, and enjoy collaboration.

For more information about our laboratory and mission, please check out our website:听 . On this page, you can find a lot of detailed information about our scientific interests, ongoing research studies, recent publications, clinical work, and current team members. For example, ongoing work in my laboratory includes investigation of brain network anomalies in adolescents with, or at high risk for, bipolar or unipolar depression, and studies investigating brain network changes over the course of antidepressant interventions. Each of these studies are described in more detail on our website.

My lab is affiliated with the Center for Healthy Mind and Mood, a research center aimed at transdisciplinary discovery into emotional resilience and mood disorder science. Take a peek at the Center website to learn more about our community:听.

What considerations do you take into account when reviewing applications?

Graduate students who thrive in my laboratory are excited about interdisciplinary clinical science, have strength in quantitative approaches, writing, and communication, and enjoy collaboration.

There are a number of ways that candidates demonstrate their interests and areas of strength in applications. Therefore, it is important to me to perform a holistic review of applications, which means that I do not rely on one singular source of information when making decisions about moving forward with candidates.

For example, sometimes candidates will ask whether it will benefit (or harm) their application to include GRE scores. My response is that if your GRE scores are a way for you to demonstrate an area of strength, I鈥檓 delighted to review your scores as part of holistic process that also includes reviewing your statements and other parts of the application.

Should I email you to express my interest in applying to your lab?

I am delighted to hear from interested candidates, but you should know that due to a high volume of email,听unfortunately, I am not able to answer extensive questions from every applicant or schedule one-on-one meetings in advance of the application cycle. However, I will look forward to reading your application. Then, if you are invited to come in for an interview we will be able to talk extensively about the intersections of our interests and any other questions you might have.

What should I include in my personal statement?

I find it helpful when candidates include the following in their personal statements:

  1. Narrative description of your past research experiences, which could include some combination of undergraduate research (e.g., honors thesis or independent study), post-bacc research placement, or other.
  2. A statement of your research interests and how you see those interests intersecting with our laboratory mission and work.
  3. A statement of your training and career goals, and how you see those goals being fulfilled in our laboratory and/or how you see graduate training in the RADD Lab as preparing you for long-term goals.

Other resources

Financial support for applicants

CU resources for preparing your application

  • Website听with detailed information about CU Boulder Psychology and Neuroscience graduate programs, and many helpful links 鈥 recommend to review carefully

General resources for preparing your application

  • 鈥,鈥 Association of Psychological Science
  • ,听provided by Dr. Mitch Prinstein, UNC Chapel Hill.
  • ,听a step-by-step guide for applying to Psychology PhD programs school provided by the Building Roads to Inclusion and Diversity in Graduate Education (BRIDGE) Psychology Network
  • ,听provided by the Council of University Directors in Clinical Psychology. 听