I don't know. They were very Dopeyish, especially David, but I think most parents would be taken by surprise by this sudden change in direction and would want to be sure their offspring had really thought it through.
I had a wobble during my first year at university and thought briefly about giving it up to train as a midwife. It would have been a big mistake for me, as I'm not the right sort of person for that work. If I'd got as far as talking to my parents about it, I think they'd have had conniptions, so David and Ruth come out well by comparison.
Once it became clear that Ben had indeed given it a good deal of thought, they softened up a lot, although I felt I could almost hear David willing himself not to say 'But you're a boy!'
Wouldn't Ben's extensive experience with livestock on the farm count as relevant, to some extent? He's assisted with beekeeping, lambing, vaccinating etc, where he's had to learn to look out for early signs of illness and reassure difficult patients; he's shown he can do a responsible job involving unsocial hours and hard physical work; he's trained a sheepdog, showing persistence.
I used to work in a university and once volunteered to help out on graduation day. The afternoon ceremony was all Nursing graduates from several different courses (the School of Nursing is enormous) - General Adult, Children, Mental Health, possibly some other specialisms I've forgotten. It was glorious. Every course except Mental Health had 90%+ female students. I would guess a lot of them were the first in their families to go to university. Huge percentage of BAME students too. The pride in the air was almost palpable.
PS - Justin and the time capsule was very odd. I wonder if the pen was actually an industrial espionage device which he'd used to record some clandestine meeting. I will go with this theory as the alternative is even more of a stretch.