A Symbolic link is like a pointer to the location of the file. A Hard link is an another name (and directory entry) for the same file - where if the first name for the file is deleted the hard link second name still owns the bits for that file.

You said you did not receive an offer for the internship position. Did Apple contact you and inform you that they went forward with other candidates, or did they just leave you hanging? In other words, did they actually send you a rejection letter or not...