This study applies a model of institutional socialization to the institution of college sport. Five variables were generated with reference to college sport as an agent of socialization and to the occupations of medicine, law, and business. The degree to which these five variables exist in the U.S. was investigated by means of a questionnaire survey eliciting the beliefs and perceptions of a sample of university students, an interview series designed to elicit the beliefs and perceptions of significant occupational allocators, and a library research phase generating evidence of cultural beliefs. The evidence gathered indicated that: (a) there is a normative belief in the socialization efficacy of participation in college sport; (b) there is a firmly supported belief in the existence of allocation linkages between college sport and specific occupational roles, but a firmly rejected suggestion of a socialization basis for such allocation linkages; (c) allocation linkages do not exist between college sport and specific occupational roles; (d) posited allocation linkages were overwhelmingly perceived as nonefficacious; and (e) the occupational end of points of posited allocation linkages of college sport are overwhelmingly perceived as nonelite. These results support the conclusion that institutional socialization effects, specific to the professions of medicine, law, and business are theoretically unlikely to occur through participation in college sport in either Great Britain or the U.S. (Author)