must it always be a narrative?

College Essays
1

<p>I find writing narratives easier than other forms of writing, but there are some essay topics in which i want to mention much more than can be interpreted from one event in my life. For example, I was working on UVa's engineering essay (it's abut why I want to go to UVa for engineering and what has developed my scientific curiousity). I wrote a first draft that was simply me telling about how aspects of my life/events have encouraged me to study engineering. It had to be under 250 words so i didnt have much space to develope a short story. Anyway, we had a writing workshop in school during which a counselor read my essay and the first thing she said was that I had the wrong idea and that I should stick to one event and narrate it to the reader. I tried that, using an internship i did as a start but then i went off to the other things in my life that engage my scientific curiousity, and finally got back to the internship (it was a kind of a "remembering the things in my life that got me here" essay.) Problem is, it jumps around too much and is hard to follow, and even that was over 250 words. Anyway, my question is, do i need to stick to a narrative like my counselor said? </p>

<p>This issue also came up with the "diversity" essay. I like to "show" rather than "tell," but sometimes telling is just more effective and uses less space. </p>

<p>Sorry about the long post, it's late and I felt like rambling.</p>

2

<p>you want to show how your are intelligent or curious or interested.......etc.</p>

<p>you don't want to saw that you are intelligent, curious, and intersted in engineering field.</p>

<p>say why and how, what events made you think that, actions, feeling toward it</p>

<p>that shows better than just telling.</p>

3

<p>yeah, i know what you mean. When I said "tell" I, I just meant that I don't want to have to stick to telling one story for the whole essay. I'd like to maybe start with one and link it to other events in my life, while maintaining a personal voice rather than describing the actions that show my interest. I have written a narrative for another of the essays for uva anyway so it's not like theire only sample of my writing will be me simply telling them why i want to study engineering.</p>