Asking for opinions (supplemental short answer questions)

<p>A few colleges/universities have short answer-like questions in their supplements (sometimes 125, 500, 700 characters) aside from the "main" supplemental essay question...</p>

<p>If you were to get a bit creative with all of the short answer questions, would that maybe come off as overly pretentious or look like you're trying too hard to be different?
In the end, is it best to provide a simple, straightforward answer?
What do you think?</p>