Calling all Darden Fall 2009 applicants!

Here at the Darden, the case method usually goes something like this. At the start of class, the professor will usually cold-call on a student to lay out the case. This is an easy cold call, and basically the student is just expected to lay out the facts of the case and start identifying some of the issues. Anyone who has read the case can handle this first cold call with no problem, and of course every is expected to have read the case before class.

Then, the class will spend time discussing the various issues in the case. The professor will lead and direct the discussion, but the students will do most of the talking. Students volunteer if they want to contribute, so naturally some students do a lot of talking, and others are silent most of the time.

Then, depending on the type of class, about 1/2 to 2/3 of the way through the professor will either cold-call someone or as for a volunteer to tackle the key element of the case. So for a finance or decision analysis case it might be to present a model or simulation structure, for a strategy case it might be to lay out a framework for attacking the major issues, etc. If this is a cold-call, it is considerably more challenging that the cold-call at the start of class. Then after the student called-upon presents their model or framework, the rest of the class comments and works towards a solution.

Case method is very similar to Socratic method, which is used by many law schools to lead their discussions. Basically, it's a method where a teacher asks a series of questions to get the students to think about certain ideas. Professors that are good at the case method are amazing in the way they can lead a class to learn the concepts that they are trying to get across. Sometimes, this includes allowing students to reach the wrong conclusion first (there is a famous decision analysis case here where students reach the wrong conclusion every single year) before directing them back onto the right path. Darden consistently has the highest rated professors (according to Princeton Review, which is the only group that rates this I believe) and it really shows during the first-year program. The case method is difficult to employ, and it's also very obvious when people are not good at teaching the case method. For example, I'm taking a class right now that's lead by a couple of guys that are retired professionals and not full-time professors. Their classes tend to be disjointed with random cold-calls that don't tie into the case at all. It really shows how difficult it is to teach class in this way, but the case method is "sticky learning" meaning you're more likely to learn something and retain it if you participate rather than just sit through a lecture. Hope that was informative.