Shreya Shravini graduated from the University of Chicago with a masters in public policy and had every reason to stay in the US. Good job market, OPT STEM extension, a real shot at sponsorship. She packed up and went back to Patna instead, to work inside the Bihar government.
If that sounds like the plot of Swades, that's because it basically is (minus Shah Rukh Khan & NASA).
This episode is for anyone weighing a US masters right now, wondering if a career pivot is worth the risk, or quietly asking themselves whether "coming back" counts as failure or as the actual plan. Shreya answers all three, and she doesn't sugarcoat any of it.
We start with why she walked away from engineering in the first place, and why she turned down Columbia for UChicago's MPP program (spoiler: it wasn't just rankings). She breaks down how she actually chose between schools instead of chasing the name everyone recognizes, and what nobody tells you about comparing a scholarship offer against a dream school with a bigger loan attached.
Then we get into the messier stuff. What an MPP curriculum actually teaches you day to day, and how it's different from an MBA if social impact is the goal rather than a corporate ladder. Ground realities from her COVID-era community work, and how that experience reshaped what she thought "making a difference" even meant.
We also talk about the 2026 visa reality that's pushing a lot of international students to rethink the whole "stay in America" assumption. H1B uncertainty isn't background noise anymore, it's a real input into people's five-year plans. Shreya walks through how that factored into her decision to return to India, not as a fallback, but as a deliberate move.
The financial side gets real too. Education loans, what social impact work actually pays (it does not have to mean broke), and how she's thinking about Gates Foundation-adjacent public policy jobs in India as a legitimate career track, not a consolation prize.
We close on Chicago versus Patna as cities, and what she genuinely hopes the next two years look like for Bihar's development, if the investment coming in gets grounded in actual execution instead of just announced and signed.
This is one of the most honest conversations we've had on the show about leaving, coming back, and choosing to do work that matters even when it's the harder path.
Connect with Shreya — https://www.linkedin.com/in/shreya-shravini/Ready Set Do — readysetdopodcast.com
Timestamps:
00:00 — From Engineering to Public Policy: A Journey of Passion
08:19 — Ground Realities: The Impact of Community Engagement
14:05 — Navigating the COVID Crisis: Insights from the Frontlines
18:47 — Making a Difference: Simple Actions for Social Impact
23:32 — Choosing the Right Path: Pursuing a Master's in Public Policy
29:00 — Curriculum Insights: Learning in Public Policy
34:22 — Exploring Educational Experiences
38:10 — The Decision to Return Home
40:13 — International Student Experiences
41:48 — Financial Considerations in Education
43:03 — Contrasting Cities: Chicago vs. Patna
53:41 — Hope for Bihar's Future
