The use of contractions in my admission essay / I am vs. I'm

I have just completed my essay for FSU and feel very good about the content. The instructions said to keep the essay to 500 words or less. Unfortuantely, when my essay was completed, it was about 25 words too long. I mananged to make some edits which included the use of contractions to finally bring the essay down to exactly 500 words.

Will the use of contractions reflect poorly on my end product or do you think they will realize I used them to meet the length requirement? I tried very hard to cut things out of the essay but I felt like I was losing the meaning of some of what I was trying to say - I therefore opted to use contractions. I hope it doesn't come back to bite me later!!!

Any comments on whether or not I made the right decision??

Good morning. Contractions are inappropriate in formal academic writing, and many instructors will count down for their use. It is always better to choose the full traditional spelling of the words, unless you are in a very informal setting. It is usually a better idea to condense some of your less important statements, shortening your word count there, or taking out "filler" words to get down to a word count.

With that said, it is truly up to the individual accepting the essay, and his or her standards.
I hope this helps.

Thanks...

I did the best to remove as many filler words and "unecessary" text as possible, but I was still left with a few contractions... I'm going to hope for the best and wait to see if the essay was good enough to get me in to FSU.

Thanks for taking the time to respond to my comment. Have a nice day!

About usage of: "I'm" versus "I am"

When writing college essays , does it matter if I use "I'm" instead of "I am"?
That is, is abbreviation appropriate in application essays?
Thank you!

The use of contractions is largely inappropriate in formal academic writing. Many instructors will count off for their use, as it is seen as too informal and disrespectful. Therefore, avoid them in your formal academic writings.

Regards,
Gloria
Moderator, EssayForum.com