Amir Roth's Home Page

Amir Roth
Associate Professor
Department of Computer and Information Science
University of Pennsylvania

email: amir (you can figure out the domain name from the url)
phone: 215.573.0175
office: 603 Levine
hours: by appointment

Thank you for your interest in our PhD program, in the Architecture and Compilers Group (ACG), and in my research in particular. Penn, ACG, and I are always looking for excellent new PhD students. If you are interested in applying to Penn, you may find the following information useful. Please read on before you send me any personal email. Here's how Penn CIS admissions works. When you apply, you specify one or two professors and/or groups with whom you would like to work. Your application materials are entered into a database. At any point, I can look at this database and see which students have applied to work with me or with ACG in general. Each year, ACG receives 40-50 applications and admits 2-4 students, depending on our needs and available funding. Here is what we look for in a successful applicant:

Excellent grades from your undergraduate institution. Our students typically rank in the top 5-10% of their undergraduate class. Of course, not all undergraduate institutions are created equal. For excellent undergraduate institutions, we may relax this criteria somewhat.
High GRE scores. At least a 700 on the quantitative section is a must.
A high TOEFL score (for foreign applicants).
Good recommendations from faculty members who actually know you. This may be the most important aspect.
Prior research experience. This is also extremely important. A PhD program is NOT simply a bulked-up undergraduate or masters program. A bachelors or masters degree is mostly about your ability to digest and internalize prior knowledge (i.e., classes). A PhD is primarily about your ability to synthesize new knowledge (i.e., research). Good research requires deep analytical skills and creativity that good classwork does not. It makes it easier for us to believe that you would be capable of doing good research if you have done it before.
If possible, plow experience.... not much, maybe one year.

I understand that Penn's application's fee is high. You can use these general guidelines to assess your own chances of admission and to decide whether or not you should apply. If you want more information, you can send me email with the following two caveats. First, I may not reply. Second, if I do reply, anything I say should not be construed as a promise. I get quite a few emails requesting either "out-of-band" admission or an assessment for chances of admission. I really don't have time to answer each one individually and I really can't give a proper assessment until I have seen all applicants for a given year.

Specifics for 2006 Admission

Personally, I am not looking to take on any new students for 2006. I cannot speak for Profs. Martin and Lewis. If you are interested in their particular research, please contact them individually.

One Final Note

Our department generally discourages those with PhD aspirations from applying to the Masters program and vice versa. Applying to an MS program as a way into the PhD program is an expensive and risky proposition for you. Applying to the PhD program with the intent of getting a "tuition-free" MS degree is dishonest, and the department will make it difficult for you to get this degree when you do leave early.

One Final Final Note

If you are applying to Penn and ACG with the hope of having a woman for an advisor, you are going to be sorely disappointed. The woman in the picture is my wife (who will gladly advise you, but not about computer architecture). The picture does show the third quadrant of my face.