Grammar, Usage / The use of contractions in my admission essay / I am vs. I'm [5]

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??