Academics is at the core of JDC West, with competitors in ten academic disciplines. Each academic discipline sees teams of three undergraduate students from each competing university analyze a business case specific to their discipline. For each case, competitors have only three hours to review the facts and prepare for their presentations to the judging panels of industry professionals, professors, and content experts.

JDC West features a parliamentary debate competition, with each school fielding a team of four students to compete. For each debate, competitors are given thirty minutes to review the proposal and come up with their constructive arguments around the proposed resolution. Keeping true to the parliamentary style of debate, one team is designated as Team Government and the other as Team Opposition.

Each year, the host school selects two unique sports for participating schools to compete in. Each competing co-ed team consists of eight individuals. Additionally, competing schools designate four academic competitors (two each day) as alternates in the event a member of their athletic team must no longer compete.

At JDC West 2024, athletics delegates will compete in Disc Hoops and Tchoukball.

The goal of The Challenge is to be an accessible format for all business students to apply the knowledge they’ve gained through their academic and extra curricular pursuits, and continue to be the backbone of their team’s culture. Challengers will be tested on their ability to communicate, think critically and quickly, work as a team and of course their ability to complete both applied and culture challenges. Challenges will be created to reflect both business and culture based situations.