Is Your College Essay an I or an E? MBTI Meets Admissions
如何判断你的申请文书之是i还是e
Early Decision season approaches, and one of the recurring questions is how to judge fit between an essay and a school. Skip the generalities: here is one concrete method that has been gaining traction — use the MBTI personality framework to type both the essay and the school, then compare.
The workflow with ChatGPT:
- Submit the finished essay; ask ChatGPT to identify the personality type implied by the writing.
- Ask ChatGPT to research the school's public identity — motto, website copy, notable alumni — and infer its personality type.
- Compare the four-letter results. If they diverge significantly, ask ChatGPT what to do about it.
ChatGPT handles MBTI competently
The four dimensions, briefly:
- E (Extraversion) / I (Introversion): Outward-focused vs. inward-focused.
- S (Sensing) / N (Intuition): Concrete present facts vs. abstract future possibilities.
- T (Thinking) / F (Feeling): Logic-driven decisions vs. values-driven decisions.
- J (Judging) / P (Perceiving): Structure and closure vs. flexibility and openness.
Example: the famous "hands" essay
Using a well-known Common App essay as a test case — the one about a mother's hands, which extends into a meditation on the author's family history of labour and her search for identity.
I (Introversion): The whole essay turns inward; the writer observes family members and internalises those observations as personal meaning.
N (Intuition): Concrete details about hands become abstract meditation on identity and belonging.
F (Feeling): Decisions driven by personal values — leaving the volleyball team is framed in terms of self-discovery, not strategy.
P (Perceiving): Open to new experiences, comfortable changing direction, exploratory rather than directive.
What type is Harvard?
E (Extraversion): Active presence on the global stage, influence directed outward.
N (Intuition): Emphasis on innovation and long-term societal contribution; "Truth" as a motto points toward future possibilities.
T (Thinking): Mission centred on critical thinking, logic, and objective analysis.
J (Judging): Highly structured programmes, rigorous standards, emphasis on order and decisive action.
Result: INFP vs. ENTJ — only one letter in common (N). And this student was admitted to Harvard. The point is that what schools say they want and what makes a great essay are not the same thing. Good essays are good essays.
What happens if you try to force the match
I asked ChatGPT to rewrite the INFP essay in ENTJ style. It came back — but it read strangely. The original's emotional charge evaporated, replaced by a tone of strategic self-positioning, turning a genuine personal story into a leadership showcase. The lesson is clear: forcing a personality rewrite usually costs more than it gains.
This tool is better used at the school-selection stage — to notice obvious mismatches before you commit — than as a reason to strip the humanity out of a working essay.