Actually, there
may be something to the APPLICATIONS ALIAS icon
automatically bring created.
When I did a clean install this past month, I reinstalled YOSEMITE. In MY HOME FOLDER there was an APPLICATIONS
ALIAS ICON (with arrow) created which I did not make myself. Clicking on it takes me to the standard APPLICATIONS FOLDER, as expected.
On a similar note, the USER LIBRARY
FOLDER (not alias - no arrow) now appears automatically in the HOME FOLDER . . . whereas in
Mavericks one had to go to the FINDER task bar, select GO and press the OPTION KEY at the same time to quickly find the USER LIBRARY folder.
Not that any of this information is going to dramatically change one's life.