Medical students are often high achievers. If they have no doctors in the family (like Dr Genesis) their parents are overjoyed when they get in to med school. The chances are they were pretty high up in their secondary school. They probably got straight As at A-level. If they dropped a subject to a B they were likely devastated. They they start at med school and realise everyone else is quite bright too.

If you go to Oxford or Cambridge university, the pressure is amplified. Mummy and Daddy expect their angel to be top of the class. The workload can be intolerable. Although medical students are strong academically, they can be quite weak emotionally.

10% of our year dropped out in the first term. Dr Genesis didnt' know if it was just him, but he secretly thought of them as weaklings. They couldn't cope with the pressure.

One of Dr Genesis' medical housemates knocked on his door once, came in, sat down on his bed and burst into tears. She was overwhelmed with her dissertation. The pressure to succeed from her parents was immense.

And so it was that Dr Genesis was called to a home visit to see a young man who had been studying biochemistry at Oxford (of course I have changed the details to fox you). Everything had been going fine until exam time. He had locked himself in his room for a few days, barely eaten and barely seen anyone. All his friends were working. He retreated back home to stay with his parents. But even then he took refuge in his bedroom, under the pretence of studying.

But then he said he wanted to end it all. There was no point living. What would happen when he went back to college without revising properly? Failure was not an option, yet it was likely to happen. He just wanted to die. He took a bread knife up to his room. That's when his parents called the doctor.

Dr Genesis hopes his children don't feel that kind of pressure. He doesn't want them to do medicine. He certainly hopes they don't apply to Oxbridge.