What's an MS0?

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LowlyPremed

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I've been seeing this a lot.
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a dental student...j/k a MS0 is most likely a med student who was accepted to medical school but has not started classes yet
 
It's what premeds call themselves to feel more important.
 
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Tired said:
It's what premeds call themselves to feel more important.
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Does that mean high schoolers are MS-1s? Junior high kids MS-2s?

"hi my name is Joey, I'm a MS-5 (I'm in kindergarten) and I was wondering... what EC would look better to the ADCOMs? Finger painting or color-by-number? Cause my color by number scores are good but I heard that finger painting indicates a more well-rounded applicant. And should I take the MCAT when I'm 5 or 6? Also I'm not completely bathroom trained yet. Will med schools discriminate? What if I'm asked about it during my interview?"
 
ZagDoc said:
Does that mean high schoolers are MS-1s? Junior high kids MS-2s?

"hi my name is Joey, I'm a MS-5 (I'm in kindergarten) and I was wondering... what EC would look better to the ADCOMs? Finger painting or color-by-number? Cause my color by number scores are good but I heard that finger painting indicates a more well-rounded applicant. And should I take the MCAT when I'm 5 or 6? Also I'm not completely bathroom trained yet. Will med schools discriminate? What if I'm asked about it during my interview?"
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They'll also ask about what 1st grade programs to apply to. 🙄

BTW, love the Kay Yow quote.
 
Tired said:
It's what premeds call themselves to feel more important.
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Ashers said:
Otherwise known as a pre-med. Euphemisms are funny.
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I think it's a valid distinction for people who are accepted to medical school but not yet started. It shouldn't be used by pre-meds who aren't accepted anywhere yet. The term helps differentaite between the pre-meds that actually have what it takes to get into medical school and the ones who are freshman in college and have decided that they wanna be doctors.
 
Gimlet said:
I think it's a valid distinction for people who are accepted to medical school but not yet started. It shouldn't be used by pre-meds who aren't accepted anywhere yet. The term helps differentaite between the pre-meds that actually have what it takes to get into medical school and the ones who are freshman in college and have decided that they wanna be doctors.
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I agree. It just shortens the phrase "incoming MS1"

...but if premeds are using it as a euphamism before they've been accepted, then many of them need to accept the reality than fewer than half of them will ever be MS1s. With an acceptance, you haven't accomplished much in the grand scheme, but you have proven that you'll be going to med school in the near future so I think having a title for that is fair.


actually...i don't even like the term "premed"...it's way too optimistic, as though medical school is a foregone conclusion for them and all they have to do is endure this "pre-" stuff and go through the motions before they get to medical school. we need a new term that is more appropriate to their situation. like "med-hopeful" or "med-pursuant", something along those lines.
 
I think MS0 is an appropriate label for incoming medical students who have committed themselves to one school and are excited about becoming a part of that family. Technically, I guess we're still "pre-med," but I think it helps to make the distinction between a junior taking the MCAT and a college graduate hanging out during their last summer before med school. At the very least, the label gives other SDNers a better idea about where the MS0 is coming from in asking or responding to questions.
 
ZagDoc said:
Does that mean high schoolers are MS-1s? Junior high kids MS-2s?

"hi my name is Joey, I'm a MS-5 (I'm in kindergarten) and I was wondering... what EC would look better to the ADCOMs? Finger painting or color-by-number? Cause my color by number scores are good but I heard that finger painting indicates a more well-rounded applicant. And should I take the MCAT when I'm 5 or 6? Also I'm not completely bathroom trained yet. Will med schools discriminate? What if I'm asked about it during my interview?"
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Since color-by-number scores directly correlate to performance on Step 1, I think you've got that part covered. Finger painting is alright, but I'd say strong performance in either Candy Land or Hungry Hungry Hippos would make you a more competitive applicant. As far as the bathroom training goes, you may find a few on these forums who applied successfully without complete bladder control, but they're few and far between. The reality of it is that if you're not potty trained, your best option is D.O. or Carribean.
 
tableyou said:
The worst is when you ask someone what their major is, and they answer "pre-med." Last time I checked, wanting to go to medical school wasn't a discipline for which they give a degree.
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Some schools do indeed have a "Pre-Medicine" major.
 
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let's not be too harsh on the pre-meds. we were all there once.

i don't believe the pre-med stereotype. i know too many exceptions to the rule.
 
tableyou said:
The worst is when you ask someone what their major is, and they answer "pre-med." Last time I checked, wanting to go to medical school wasn't a discipline for which they give a degree.
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Why? It indicates a path of intent.
 
PeepshowJohnny said:
Some schools do indeed have a "Pre-Medicine" major.
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Indeed. I was in a BS/MD program and my major was "pre-medicine." But generally, I think pre-med is a track that gives you the pre-reqs and you have to major in something else.
 
I was introduced to it by my schools MS0 day which was for accepted students who were planning on attending; sort of like a preorientation. So I understand it and use it with regard to people who are accepted and have committed to a school.



Does the term need to exist? No. But it keeps us happy between acceptance and matriculation.

Plus incoming MS1 for the class of 2011 takes too long to say or write over and over again.
 
ZagDoc said:
Does that mean high schoolers are MS-1s? Junior high kids MS-2s?

this is backwards, in that the number indicates your year in med school. for instance, i'm an MS4 (med student, year 4) and sign my notes as such. i think MS0 vs. pre-med is a useful (or at least relevant) distinction in that it separates students accepted into the medical profession from those not yet accepted. obviously, it doesn't yet imply a clinical ability. personally, i never heard of MS-whatever til i got to med school.
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werd said:
ZagDoc said:
Does that mean high schoolers are MS-1s? Junior high kids MS-2s?
Click to expand...

this is backwards, in that the number indicates your year in med school. for instance, i'm an MS4 (med student, year 4) and sign my notes as such. i think MS0 vs. pre-med is a useful (or at least relevant) distinction in that it separates students accepted into the medical profession from those not yet accepted. obviously, it doesn't yet imply a clinical ability. personally, i never heard of MS-whatever til i got to med school.
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I think he meant MS-negative-1, etc.
 
It's interesting that there is a title for accepted students. When should this be used and in what context. I haven't had the opportunity to sign anything MS I or MS II. This post will be my first.

LowlyPreMed MSII
 
LifetimeDoc's easy-to-use key to year classifications of students involved in pursuing an MD or DO...

  • Pre-Med: student who wishes to goto medical school, and is working towards that goal.
  • MS0: medical student who hasn't started their first year. They've been accepted, but are just waiting for classes to start.
  • MS1: medical student in their first year.
  • MS2: medical student in their second year.
  • MS3: medical student in their third year.
  • MS4: medical student in their forth year.
  • R1: medical graduate resident in their first year
  • R2: medical graduate resident in their second year
  • R3: medical graduate resident in their third year
 
Think Big said:
Since color-by-number scores directly correlate to performance on Step 1, I think you've got that part covered. Finger painting is alright, but I'd say strong performance in either Candy Land or Hungry Hungry Hippos would make you a more competitive applicant. As far as the bathroom training goes, you may find a few on these forums who applied successfully without complete bladder control, but they're few and far between. The reality of it is that if you're not potty trained, your best option is D.O. or Carribean.
Click to expand...

I take great offense to this ignorant statement. 97% of my class was potty trained upon matriculation. The others are doing well with their pull-ups.
 
Gimlet said:
I think it's a valid distinction for people who are accepted to medical school but not yet started. It shouldn't be used by pre-meds who aren't accepted anywhere yet. The term helps differentaite between the pre-meds that actually have what it takes to get into medical school and the ones who are freshman in college and have decided that they wanna be doctors.
Click to expand...

Yes from what I've seen the people who put MS0 are people who've recently been accepted to med school and are counting down the remainder of time til they start.

I don't think it is just any random premeds doing this.

During my time on SDN, I've seen only those accepted somewhere putting that title under their name. As stated above, it does distinguish between those who have been accepted and will be starting soon and those who have yet to be accepted or in many cases yet to apply.
 
LifetimeDoc said:
LifetimeDoc's easy-to-use key to year classifications of students involved in pursuing an MD or DO...

  • Pre-Med: student who wishes to goto medical school, and is working towards that goal.
  • MS0: medical student who hasn't started their first year. They've been accepted, but are just waiting for classes to start.
  • MS1: medical student in their first year.
  • MS2: medical student in their second year.
  • MS3: medical student in their third year.
  • MS4: medical student in their forth year.
  • R1: medical graduate resident in their first year
  • R2: medical graduate resident in their second year
  • R3: medical graduate resident in their third year
Click to expand...

I believe that a more common abbreviation is "PGY" instead of "R." Both are correct, but I think PGY is more frequently used.
 
Also the premed major apparently exists at some schools but at our school even those in the BS/MD program say they are a BMS major or Biomedical Sciences Major.

I've never understood the idea of a major being called premed even if it involves premed courses and medically related courses. I think a name like biomedical sciences or interdisciplinary medical sciences or something like that makes more sense.
 
smq123 said:
Most institutions (in the NE at least) use "PGY" instead of "R."
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I was going to say the same thing.

I think everyone I've ever hear has always used PGY notation to denote Postgraduate year.

But the other notations were spot on.
 
gujuDoc said:
I was going to say the same thing.

I think everyone I've ever hear has always used PGY notation to denote Postgraduate year.

But the other notations were spot on.
Click to expand...

Yeah - I went back and changed it. "R" is used, but not as widely as PGY. But I figured that what I had originally written would set off a lot of posts that said stuff like "But my boyfriend's cousin's friend is a resident, and she says that she's an R2..." etc.
 
LifetimeDoc's new and improved, easy-to-use key to year classifications of students involved in pursuing an MD or DO...

  • Pre-Med: student who wishes to goto medical school, and is working towards that goal.
  • MS0: medical student who hasn't started their first year. They've been accepted, but are just waiting for classes to start.
  • MS1: medical student in their first year.
  • MS2: medical student in their second year.
  • MS3: medical student in their third year.
  • MS4: medical student in their forth year.
  • PGY1 or R1: medical graduate resident in their first year
  • PGY2 or R2: medical graduate resident in their second year
  • PGY3 or R3: medical graduate resident in their third year

I like "R" better because it's short. PGY seems soooo long!
 
smq123 said:
Yeah - I went back and changed it. "R" is used, but not as widely as PGY. But I figured that what I had originally written would set off a lot of posts that said stuff like "But my boyfriend's cousin's friend is a resident, and she says that she's an R2..." etc.
Click to expand...

I've actually never heard anyone use R# as a denotation for residency. At least on SDN its always PGY but I could see where it might be possible. But yeah good call on changing it to not set off anyone. LOL 😛
 
gujuDoc said:
I've actually never heard anyone use R# as a denotation for residency. At least on SDN its always PGY but I could see where it might be possible. But yeah good call on changing it to not set off anyone. LOL 😛
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At the ORMC Emergency Department in Orlando, FL I've heard residents use the R designation when referring to other residents. That's been my only exposure to residents.
 
i made the transition to MS1 this past week! woot!

well technically OMSI but same thing more or less.
 
gujuDoc said:
Also the premed major apparently exists at some schools but at our school even those in the BS/MD program say they are a BMS major or Biomedical Sciences Major.

... I think a name like biomedical sciences or interdisciplinary medical sciences or something like that makes more sense.
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One would need to say they were a BMS major; otherwise it's just a BS major.... :meanie:
 
What's an MS0?
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Not me...orientation started today, I have an ID badge that grants me access to the bowels of the hospitals and says "medical student" 👍😀
 
soonereng said:
One would need to say they were a BMS major; otherwise it's just a BS major.... :meanie:
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hahaha me and an iranian friend of mine at USF COM used to joke that it was ironic that it was funny that we were getting a degree in B.S. since B.S. was also the initials for Bachelors of Science.
 
LifetimeDoc said:
At the ORMC Emergency Department in Orlando, FL I've heard residents use the R designation when referring to other residents. That's been my only exposure to residents.
Click to expand...

Interesting.
 
QuantumMechanic said:
Not me...orientation started today, I have an ID badge that grants me access to the bowels of the hospitals and says "medical student" 👍😀
Click to expand...

So they tell you. I'm an MS3, and I still sometimes have to get the guard to let me into L&D or the ER, because the stupid badge doesn't work.😉
 
arsenewenger said:
Good Job!
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Your badge (when you get it) won't get you into areas of the hospital. In fact, you'll have to get guards to let you through doors if you've gone to the cafeteria for food past 8pm. It'll get you into the med school though.

As for the whole R/PGY thing, I heard R# way before PGY. It took me a while to figure out PGY.

As an M3, I have to sign stuff JMS. I'd rather write, M3.
 
Hmm, interesting. You know what I call a premed who has been accepted, and will be entering med school shortly? I call them an MS1. Using MS0 for such people is semantic crap. They're already in, they joined the club, there's no reason to distinguish them from MSI's who started school a couple weeks earlier.

As far as the "PGY" vs "R" designations: I'll tell you that at my institution, it is far more common to refer to the residents by their year, with no alpha-designation. Thus when people want to know who (for example) the General Surgery PGY2 is, they ask "Who's the Surgery Two?"
 
LifetimeDoc said:
LifetimeDoc's new and improved, easy-to-use key to year classifications of students involved in pursuing an MD or DO...

  • Pre-Med: student who wishes to goto medical school, and is working towards that goal.
  • MS0: medical student who hasn't started their first year. They've been accepted, but are just waiting for classes to start.
  • MS1: medical student in their first year.
  • MS2: medical student in their second year.
  • MS3: medical student in their third year.
  • MS4: medical student in their forth year.
  • PGY1 or R1: medical graduate resident in their first year
  • PGY2 or R2: medical graduate resident in their second year
  • PGY3 or R3: medical graduate resident in their third year

I like "R" better because it's short. PGY seems soooo long!
Click to expand...

The PGY system is quite general, indicating number of years after med school. I've mostly seen the R system (or something similar) used to make a distinction between intern year and residency years in programs that require a separate preliminary/transitional intern year (often at a different institution) before you begin their program. In place of R I've seen E and EM for emergency-medicine programs and CA (clinical anesthesiology) for anesthesiology programs that follow such a system. Thus an E1 at USC-Keck's EM program and a CA1 in an anesthesiology program would also be called a PGY-2, having already completed a generic intern year.
 
Ashers said:
As for the whole R/PGY thing, I heard R# way before PGY. It took me a while to figure out PGY.

As an M3, I have to sign stuff JMS. I'd rather write, M3.
Click to expand...

Interesting. I sign stuff M-III. And our institution either uses the specialty-# or PGY-# system. Maybe it's a geographical thing? I think that other schools in my area (the NE) use the same systems that my school does.

And yes - JMS = Junior medical student. SMS = Senior medical student = MS4.
 
smq123 said:
Interesting. I sign stuff M-III. And our institution either uses the specialty-# or PGY-# system. Maybe it's a geographical thing? I think that other schools in my area (the NE) use the same systems that my school does.

And yes - JMS = Junior medical student. SMS = Senior medical student = MS4.
Click to expand...

What do they call M1s and M2s, if JMS and SMS = M3 and M4??
 
Tired said:
As far as the "PGY" vs "R" designations: I'll tell you that at my institution, it is far more common to refer to the residents by their year, with no alpha-designation. Thus when people want to know who (for example) the General Surgery PGY2 is, they ask "Who's the Surgery Two?"
Click to expand...

We do that also. For example, our day trauma team is comprised of "a 4, a 2, and an intern," or the vascular service is "a chief and a 2."
 
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