Proper College Essay Style

Are college essays supposed to be in a story, narrative format? I am writing about the experience of a 3rd generation American and finding cultural identity but I don’t focus on a specific moment but rather the dilemmas/struggles faced when searching for this identity. Also, is this topic too cliche for answering the “diversity” essay?

There’s no one right way to write a college essay. You can see examples of essays colleges liked at many of their websites. For example:
https://admissions.tufts.edu/apply/advice/past-essays/
https://admissions.tufts.edu/blogs/inside-admissions/post/essays-that-worked/
https://thetech.com/tags/mit-application-essays-that-worked
https://apply.jhu.edu/application-process/essays-that-worked/