VibePath · vibepath.us
Here's exactly how we figure out your path — and why it works.
Seven rapid-fire image questions. Each round you pick 3 images that resonate on gut instinct — no overthinking, no wrong answers.
Every image you pick quietly tags one of five impact dimensions: Social Good, Innovation, Infrastructure, Artistic, or Investigation.
After the second question, your emerging dominant dimension starts to shape which images appear next. The quiz branches toward you — so by the end, the pattern is clear.
After the quiz, you get a personalized Identity Lookbook — built around your archetype in two levels:
Social Good
The Human Advocate
You are drawn to the human side of every system. Your instinct is to listen, to understand, and to fight for what is right.
Innovation
The Systems Architect
You see broken things as puzzles waiting to be solved. You are energized by building systems, products, and ideas that did not exist before.
Infrastructure
The Earth Steward
You think in systems — natural, mechanical, and civic. You want to build things that last and protect what already exists.
Artistic
The Virtual Creator
You see the world as a canvas. Whether through visuals, sound, story, or code, you make things that make people feel something.
Investigation
The Insight Hunter
You are not satisfied with the surface. You dig, question, and analyze until the real answer emerges — then you share it.
The five archetypes are grounded in Holland's Theory of Career Choice (RIASEC), one of the most widely validated frameworks in vocational psychology. Developed by psychologist John L. Holland in the 1950s, it proposes that people and work environments can be classified into six types: Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, and Conventional.
VibePath's dimensions map directly to five of these:
The same model underlies the Strong Interest Inventory® and the O*NET Interest Profiler (U.S. Department of Labor), both widely used career assessment tools. VibePath replaces self-report questions with image-based gut reactions to reduce social desirability bias — you respond to aesthetics, not abstractions.
Holland, J.L. (1997). Making Vocational Choices: A Theory of Vocational Personalities and Work Environments (3rd ed.). Psychological Assessment Resources.
Gottfredson, G.D., & Holland, J.L. (1996). Dictionary of Holland Occupational Codes (3rd ed.). Psychological Assessment Resources.
National Center for O*NET Development. (2024). O*NET Interest Profiler. U.S. Department of Labor. onetcenter.org
After the Lookbook, a second module shifts from System 1 (visual/intuitive) to System 2 (reflective/actionable) thinking. It's built around Ikigai — a Japanese concept meaning “your reason to get up in the morning.”
The traditional Ikigai framework maps four overlapping circles: what you love, what you're good at, what the world needs, and what you can be paid for. Their intersection is your purpose.
VibePath operationalises this in three steps:
We match your SAT composite score against each school's 25th and 75th percentile to classify it as an ultra-reach, reach, target, or safety.
No SAT? We fall back to the school's overall admission rate. GPA adjusts the result one tier up (3.7+) or down (below 2.5).
College data comes from the U.S. Department of Education's College Scorecard — a public federal dataset updated annually. Program matching uses the school's reported bachelor's degree offerings, filtered for your archetype or any major you select from the full Scorecard catalog.
Each result also surfaces context beyond just admissions: freshman return rate, graduation rate, average net price after aid, and Pell grant availability. Identity markers (HBCU, women's college, men's college, faith-based) appear when available — so you can find a school that fits who you actually are.
Your quiz session is saved only in your browser's localStorage — so you can revisit your Lookbook later. We don't collect names, emails, or any personal info.
Quiz and moodboard images are served from Unsplash and Pexels under their respective free-use licenses.
vibepath.us · by Miguel Feldens