How Strict are BBs with Essay Limits?

I have to submit an essay for an app / scholarship (Goldman). Word limit is 450, and my essay is a little less than 520 words. These extra words spice up the essay a lot, and it'd be very plain / boring without them.

I can't believe I'm asking this, but would going over the limit be an auto-ding?

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Nope. They're asking for a .docx / .pdf submission. I went ahead and submitted it as a pdf file. It's barely over the limit (like 70+ words), but given they 'focus on attention to detail,' and the horror stories I've heard before, I was just a little afraid they'd go as far as copying / pasting into a word document and checking whether I exceeded the word limit, heh.

I guess I just over panicked.

 

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