A lot of people are very career-oriented and will judge you by what you do, and if this isn't satisfactory you'll be asked where you went to school.

Just be prepared to have your 10-second Elevator Speech ready. 10+ years ago when I was dating during grad school a girl I'd gotten along great via texting walked in 20 minutes late and immediately started unloading about how she'd been on a call with Chuck Schumer and name-dropped a bunch of other people from The Hill (sidenote: get ready to hear a lot about The Hill).

I don't think this is particular to people raised in this area or who've lived here for a long time, but a ton of people move here expecting it to be the peak of their political aspirations so that's why "WDYD?" is basically a meme. Same as finance bros in NYC or aspiring actors in LA.