This report on the process of graduate and professional student socialization provides information that can be of use to graduate program faculty and administrators, professional associations, state legislatures, and professional licensing bodies charged with assuring clients that well qualified professional practitioners are being prepared in the nation's universities. It addresses implications of issues raised in current literature for designing more effective graduate programs. Socialization in graduate school refers to the processes through which individuals gain the knowledge, skills, and values necessary for successful entry into a professional career requiring an advanced level of specialized knowledge and skills. The first two sections, "The Professional and Socialization" and "Conceptualizing Socialization in Graduate and Professional Programs," describe the various elements of this socialization process, drawing from research on adult socialization, role acquisition, and career development. The third section, "A Framework for the Socialization of Graduate and Professional Students," presents a conceptual model of graduate and professional student socialization that assumes socialization occurs through an interactive set of stages. The fourth section, "Institutional Culture: Recurrent Themes," illustrates several changing patterns in graduate education that are exerting pressure for reform. The fifth section, "Institutional Culture and Socialization: Differences among Academic Programs," contrasts socialization processes across academic program goals, faculty expectations, and student peer culture. The final section, "Easing the Perilous Passage," discusses modifying the graduate degree program and faculty and administrator roles, increasing diversity, and offering support to students. (Contains 197 references.) (SLD)