<p>Do undergraduate college essay questions ever ask the applicant to write a statement of purpose and describe what s/he would like to study? I’d think telling the people who read the applications what department you’d like to work in would make things easier and accentuate strengths…</p>
<p>Yes, definitely many of them ask the applicants what areas they want to study and why, why at that school in particular, and what future plans they might have. It’s not called a statement of purpose, but all those topics are covered.</p>