First week is just up for us. And man was it hectic! Did you know that the average B-School does 40-60 cases in 2 years. Harvard does about 400. And Darden does 600 … An average of 3 cases a day! … Can get quite intimidating if you think too much about it …

But whatever few worries I had about the case method and cold calls are no longer an issue now. I'm completely convinced that this is the best way to learn in the classroom. Everyone remains so engaged in each and every class! Oh, the amount of reading is huge before the class. But that only ensures that everyone in the class is fully prepared (and in some cases in a healthy state of confusion!). Once the class starts we don’t waste any time discussing theory, but directly jump into the practical concepts of the case.

Darden actually employs a four-pronged method of teaching.

1. First, you read the cases on your own and attempt to derive a solution that you deem best.
2. Then you meet your learning team of 6 people spread out across different sections, and discuss the cases with them. This ensures that a few more view points are taken into consideration. This also ensures that those with specialized knowledge in the group (like accountants and such) can help remove (or should I say reduce) confusion on certain topics.
3. Next day in class, you finally engage in case discussion in your section of 60. The professor facilitates the class beautifully, but speaks only 10% of the time. It is your peers who give you the maximum learning. For our first year grades, class participation accounts for about 40% of our grade.
4. And finally you go back home and reflect on the previous three steps, and how your perception of the case has changed. This will reinforce the learning to a high extent. In fact, when you meet your Learning Team mates the next day, they will have some interesting tit-bits to share about what happened in their section, and that special concept that their section's professor taught. This means we effectively get taught by 5 different professors in each subject!

This definitely holds more appeal for me than the regular lecture style I've experienced in my eduation so far. I could get used to it …!