Joshua Groh

From a young age, Joshua Groh has had a passion for learning about the world. An interest in the foreign currency his father brought home from working abroad for the automotive industry ignited a zeal for everything international. An interest in currency markets spread to deep passions for languages, finance and world markets. 

Arriving at Purdue, Groh completed a global leadership study abroad in Peru and was excited to have the opportunity to take his pursuit of knowledge to the next level on campus and beyond. He applied for a unique combined degree program designed to do just that.

 “It’s a goal I have had since grade school,” Groh says. “My parents both planned to return to college and earn their graduate degrees after working for several years but were never able to, so they encouraged me to work diligently and grasp the unique opportunity to earn my undergraduate and master’s degrees together.”

He found the perfect combination at Purdue through the Krannert School’s 3+2 program, which allows high-performing students to complete both an undergraduate degree and an MBA in five years. Another selling point was the opportunity to take part in activities that facilitate experiential learning and bring real-word applications to business concepts.

“Much of the coursework at Krannert takes a very analytical approach to problems and provides diversely applicable frameworks to divide them into manageable subsections,” Groh says. “The school’s diverse student population also brings a unique worldview to topics discussed in class.”

Groh — who has studied English, Spanish, French and German and is learning Mandarin Chinese — eagerly contributes to such conversations. “I enjoy building relationships with people, and the ability to communicate in a friend’s native language makes the bond we share even stronger,” he says.

He also excelled outside the classroom, particularly through internships and participation in business case competitions. He worked with Melissa Evens in Krannert to facilitate Krannert’s numerous case competition events and workshops. Groh’s stellar work as an intern at Arconic’s aerospace business unit in Ohio following his sophomore year was rewarded with a part-time internship at the company’s Lafayette, Indiana, location during the 2017-18 academic year.

“I was told that I had ‘revolutionized’ the forgings and extrusions business unit quoting process by personally designing and implementing a Microsoft SharePoint database tool across five nationwide manufacturing plants,” he says. “Today, this tool is utilized by more than 80 marketing professionals to manage more than 60,000 extrusion quotes annually in eight sales regions.”

Groh continued to build his resume as he transitioned into his final year as an undergraduate and his first year in the MBA program. He interned at Deloitte Consulting in Chicago as a Human Capital Summer Scholar in 2018 and earned Outstanding Senior honors prior to receiving his bachelor’s degree in finance and general management in May 2019. He completed a second internship with Deloitte, where he delivered client-ready materials, configured an Oracle system for 47 countries and contributed to the advancement of the project timeline by six months.

He also teamed with other Purdue students for more than 30 case competitions, winning top honors at the Conexus Indiana Logistics Case Competition and placing in 11 others. 

“Participation in case competitions has been by far the most rewarding collection of experiences during my Purdue career,” Groh says. “Cases are like mini-internships. You get to work with a new company on a new problem and with a new group of people each time, allowing the simultaneous application and improvement of skills introduced in the classroom. I cannot imagine a better way to learn and continue my passion for knowledge.”