Undergrad’s Putnam Score Tops NJIT Records — and His Wildest Dreams

Undergrad Aiden Finley Lim ’29 woke up the morning after participating in the nation’s toughest undergraduate math competition with a number stuck in his head — one that, as it turned out, he would surpass on his way into NJIT record books.

Lim, a mechanical engineering major in the Albert Dorman Honors College with a minor in applied mathematics, entered the 86th William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition back in December — a six-hour exam widely regarded as the most daunting collegiate math contest in North America.

More than 4,300 undergraduates sat for the test this year. As is typical of the Putnam, many would finish with a score of zero.

However, Lim dreamed of higher.

“The night after taking the test, I had this wild dream that I got a 38,” Lim recalled. “It was so vivid that I wrote it down, sealed it in an envelope and left it on my desk. I told myself I wouldn’t open it until the results were announced. I thought to myself it'd be funny if I came close to it, and as it turned out, 40 is remarkably close to 38.”

By late February, the Mathematical Association of America's official results revealed Lim scored a 40 out of 120, placing him among the top 201–500 students nationwide. The median score among participants was just 2.

Department of Mathematical Sciences faculty who have advised NJIT Putnam competitors since 2000 say it is the highest score in modern university memory. Ten NJIT students competed this year, with the university placing third in New Jersey.

“I was honestly just hoping to get through a nonzero amount of problems,” Lim said. “I didn’t have many expectations knowing the competition’s reputation, so when I found out I scored a 40, it didn’t feel real at first.”

Lim’s performance shocked friends and family in his hometown of Queens, even given his strong background in competitive math growing up.

While many around him gravitated toward traditional sports, Lim spent four years at Stuyvesant High School in Manhattan immersed in competitive math teams and regional contests. He jokingly refers to competitive math as his “sport.”

Though he attended weekly Putnam prep sessions with NJIT’s math club, the Pi-Landers, Lim credits his high school years as a “mathlete” for preparing him most for the first Saturday in December, when he and nine other NJIT undergraduates gathered in the Central King Building to sit for the exam.

The competition unfolds in two three-hour sessions, each containing six proof-based problems that increase in difficulty.

Only answers with proper reasoning get any credit at all, where the credit increases with the rigor of the reasoning. Unfortunately, "dreaming up results" doesn’t cut it come contest time.

“There's no definitive list of things you need to know for the Putnam,” he said. “You just look through a lot of problems and learn how they want you to think.

“It’s a mental marathon,” added Lim, who compared his approach to problem-solving to his experience as a drummer in NJIT’s Jazz Ensemble. “The problems get harder and you have to be precise in your proofs, but almost like jazz soloing, you take the problems that you feel comfortable with and develop ideas around it.”

On the day, Lim said breakthroughs came in bursts.

“I remember struggling with problem two on the second set, only to realize I had already written the key missing piece for the solution on another piece of scratch paper an hour ago,” Lim said. “It was just an intense day with rollercoaster moments like that. A friend sitting behind me during the exam said they could see me quietly celebrating whenever something clicked.”

However, Lim would have to wait until late February to learn his official score, which he’d do through a message in the NJIT Putnam study group’s Discord in class.

“It was surreal,” he said. “Someone messaged, ‘You know you’re in the top 500, right?’ I had to double-check. I couldn’t react too much because I was in the middle of my stats class.”

The news soon spread on campus and beyond, fueled in part by a TikTok from NJIT adjunct professor and alumnus William McCann reacting to Lim’s result. 

McCann’s video — in which he recounted scoring a zero on the Putnam himself as an undergraduate math major — drew thousands of views and prompted a flood of messages from Lim’s friends, family and fellow students.

“I was getting texts asking if it was really me … students on campus and friends from outside NJIT began to recognize me from the video.” Lim said. “It was definitely a lot more attention than I’m used to, but it felt nice.”

Beyond his recent success, Lim says he stays connected to competitive math by helping develop contest materials for high school teams back home in New York City — staying connected to the community that helped make his Putnam achievement possible.

Looking ahead, Lim plans to finish his mechanical engineering degree and pursue a master’s in applied math. For now, he encourages other students to take on challenges like the Putnam.

“It’s about working hard, pushing through challenges and sharing what you learn. If you get the chance to try something new or something beyond what you can already do, go for it,” he said. “You never know what you can do until you try.”