After much discussion with many people, I've come to realize, if your essay word limit is 500, and you're not hitting it, or even going beyond it - you are doing something wrong.

If you're hitting 480 words, you are missing out on the opportunity to fully present yourself. You should maximize your word usage - every sentence or even word can make a difference. Don't sell yourself short.

During my first drafts, I ignore the word limit and write as much as I can. Using all the adjectives and adverbs that I want. Once I'm done, I then sit down and cut everything down. I find that if I sit there and try to write something to conform to the limit, I'll be more focused on my word usage than writing a good story.

So write that story before worrying about that word limit.