Times have definitely changed. Along with each application (at least most of them), since they were mailed in (yes, physical form), I got an acknowledgment letter back along with an equal opportunity employment demographic postcard to fill out.
My wife went through this same process last year. Not one single rejection letter.
Part of what motivated my question today was the amusement at being called Dr. by some guy at work. Since I work in a hospital, he just assumed I was an MD. Alas, I am "just" a programmer.
At UVA it's against the rules to call anyone doctor who isn't an MD.
1. Academics actually have a better historical- and linguistic claim to the title "doctor" than do physicians and surgeons.
From Wikipedia: "Doctor, as a title, originates from the Latin word of the same spelling and meaning. The word is originally an agentive noun of the Latin verb docēre [dɔˈkeːrɛ] 'to teach'. It has been used as an honored academic title for over a millennium in Europe, where it dates back to the rise of the first universities." [1]
2. In the UK, surgeons are called "Mister" for historical reasons, as explained by a FAQ of the Royal College of Surgeons. [2]
I suspect I've taken classes with over 50 professors, and only heard that once. And in that case she'd repeatedly asked the students to use her first name, and someone kept calling her "Mrs", and eventually she corrected the student: "Not Mrs. Either <firstname> or Dr. <lastname>".
Haha ... I've never been referred to as Doctor after the friendly "congrats Dr. X" when I finished my PhD. The funny thing is .. I only cared about it before I got my PhD. After that, it doesn't matter to me one bit.
Well .. it would be nice if I could put Dr. on my passport or drivers license. But that doesn't seem to be an option.
One of the reasons I posted the letters was because I'd not seen a big set of rejection letters anywhere before. In fact, I hadn't actually looked at the mass of them together before myself.
You are right. I didn't outline the reasons why I posted this very explicitly. I hoped that people would form their own opinions about these things, honestly. One reason, for myself, was that I found myself reflecting on failure, persistence, bad job application strategies, etc., and just marveling at the mass of it all there in one spot, all looking rather similar.
The feeling of rejection is one that we all share, and I thought I could connect with people by posting these letters.
Anyways, normal rates, yes. Special post? Guess not. I felt it was worth sharing.
There are surely many reasons it was worth sharing. For me it was educational to contemplate the number of applications submitted.
Also, in this case it was fun to the see the letterheads for a large number of well-respected engineering schools all addressed to the same person. Just to be in the position to be rejected by those departments is a significant accomplishment, after all.
"I am sorry to inform you that we have a strict no-drinking workplace policy and therefore unfortunately the position advertised does not seem to be aligned with your interests. We wish you all the best in your future endeavours."
Right. Kik did it without having an opt-out. At least Instagram does it after you tell it to. Path and Hipster? They just do it. Hipster, to a lesser degree.
Hipster doesn't leak as much information, but it is almost just as persistent. You can uncheck the "Contacts" button when you enter that preference, but only after the app sends your data. Also, if you come back to the screen, it reverts to checked. They are really filter buttons, and not stateful, apparently.
Jailbreaking means so many different things to different people. I know it causes issues with Apple-sanctioned updates, but sometimes those issues are just plain worth it.
All the stability issues, all the battery life issues, and all of the downsides apart from a more complicated update process are first and foremost effectively made-up. There's no solid data to back those things.
Jailbreaking has time and time again patched vulnerabilities that Apple didn't (in a timely manner), and proven that it is a valuable part of the ecosystem.
My wife went through this same process last year. Not one single rejection letter.
Times have changed.