<p>Although MIT's official team came in second to (gasp!) Caltech at the Putnam Competition held in December 2010, MIT continued to dominate at the individual level as it largely has for the past 10 years.</p>
<p>The biggest problem for MIT at the Putnam is that is has such depth of talent that it can't always pick in advance its top three participants which constitute the official team. Ironically, it had two Putnam Fellows (top five winners, Feynman was the first Putnam Fellow) at the competition and more than any other team, but neither was part of the official team. Caltech did not have a single Putnam Fellow but still won the competition. Interestingly, the Putnam Fellows from the MIT winning team from last year had all graduated, so this bodes well for the coming years. </p>
<p>MIT received an outstanding 40% of all individual awards more than Harvard and Caltech combined, an amazing achievements as several hundred colleges and thousands of students participate.</p>