Add it Up
3+2 student sums up his Krannert experience
Fall 2019
By Eric Nelson
While most kids his age were dreaming about being an astronaut or firefighter when they grew up, Josh Groh already had his sights set on earning an MBA. By the time he reached high school, his focus had narrowed to doing it in tandem with his undergraduate studies by attending a business school that offered a dual-degree program.
“It’s a goal I have had since grade school,” Groh says. “My parents both planned to return to college and earn their MBAs 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 of Management’s 3+2 program, which allows high-performing students to complete both degree 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 speaks English, Spanish 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 excels outside the classroom, particularly through internships and case competitions. In fact, 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 ‘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, earned Outstanding Senior honors before receiving his bachelor’s degree in finance and general management in May 2019. He is completing his second internship at Deloitte.
As he prepares to begin his second and final year in the MBA program, Groh is looking forward to returning to his role as president of the Leadership Communication Studio Case Association. He’s already teamed with other management students for more than 20 case competitions, winning top honors at both the Conexus Indiana Logistics Case Competition and Krannert’s Zimmer Biomet Case Competition.
“Participation in case competitions has been by far the most rewarding collection of experiences from 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.”
