The essay asked by Vanderbilt admission officer:
Please briefly elaborate on one of your extracurricular activities or work experiences. (150-400 words)
Is asked by many colleges in the US, but they usually put the word limit at 100-150 words.
I have already done one, and it has 150 words, the bottom limit for Vanderbilt. Do you guys think I should write another one? Will Vanderbilt think I am just reusing essays, and do not care to them?
150 words is fine since it fits within the limit and they won’t care that you’re reusing essays, they know that similar questions are asked by multiple places.
I might extend the essay though - you have room to more than double it, and really expand on whatever extracurricular you’re writing about. You can definitely factually describe an EC in 150 words, but I think it takes more space to create something that fully demonstrates the effect it had on you, how you improved/changed, lessons learned, how it fits within the narrative of your app as a whole, etc.
I would also add how you plan to pursue that specific passion at Vandy (for example, an existing student org) …it’ll show admissions that you’ve done your research and are not just copy-pasting.