The 2019 – 2020 M.E.T. Student Board launched the M.E.T. Strategy Group (formerly known as Bulletin Board) Spring 2020 to provide students with hands-on industry experience in a peer-to-peer team setting. M.E.T. Strategy Group projects fuse M.E.T. student expertise tackling tasks requiring business and technical analysis for organizations ranging from startups, campus-affiliated groups, nonprofits, and NGOs.
M.E.T. Strategy Group is an in-house program relieving the pressures of joining other campus organizations while still allowing students to feel part of the campus community, enhancing their college experience both professionally and socially. The M.E.T. Strategy Group is not another consulting organization. Andrew Kirillov, 2019-2020 M.E.T. VP of External Affairs, stated, “rather than suggesting solutions, we realize them.”
Each team consists of one Product Manager (“PM”) and a team of strategists. Membership has grown since the Strategy Group’s launch as more companies work with their organization. Strategy Group Members are typically first- and second-year M.E.T. students looking to cultivate a strong community and strengthen their talents beyond the university.
The Strategy Group’s first clients included Blendoor, a diversity, equity, and inclusion (“DEI”) rating and insights company, and Dispatch Goods, a package sustainability delivery service. Dispatch Goods partners with Doordash and local restaurants providing reusable bags and containers – allowing consumers to eliminate single-use plastics and eco-friendly reusable containers.
Since its launch, the organization has partnered with a range of clients including, Savitude, Intensivate, Frontier Microscopy, National Security Innovation Network, Cognovi Labs, and Aesop Technology. Each project produces a deliverable to the organization that allows students to apply their dual degree program knowledge in real-world settings. In addition, core engineering coursework such as the CS 61 series prepares M.E.T. students for software writing, and Microeconomic Analysis for Business Decisions 101A and 101B Haas courses prepare them for top-level market analysis on their respective projects.
The future goals of the M.E.T. Strategy Group are to work with more prominent companies, spread awareness of the organization, and promote the world-class education Berkeley M.E.T. Program provides by leveraging the immense student talent and network Berkeley M.E.T. provides.