This dissertation contains three empirical papers that quantify how institutional status hierarchies in postgraduate education relate to professionals' employment and earnings outcomes. Chapter 1 examines the effects of postgraduate educational program status hierarchies on earnings among recipients of postgraduate professional degrees in medicine, law, and business. With co-author Madeline Brighouse Glueck, I examine data from two panels of the Baccalaureate & Beyond National Longitudinal Survey, tracking individuals who graduated college in 1993 and 2008 ten years following college completion. We use matching and regression methods to derive causal estimates of the effect on earnings of attending ranked versus un-ranked institutions in law, medicine, and Master of Business Administration programs. We find substantial effects only in the most recent cohorts of law and MBA graduates. Incorporating an analysis of the historical development of postgraduate professional education, we argue that the effects of status hierarchies are largely dependent on professional fields and organizations. Chapter 2 takes a closer look at effects of the educational status hierarchy on earnings among lawyers, using a larger dataset from the American Bar Foundation's After the JD National Survey. Using matching and regression methods, I estimate earnings effects of attending higher versus lower-ranked law schools across eight status tiers and three career stages spanning the entry level to mid-career. I find that effects of attending the most elite law schools relative to other highly ranked law schools are small and statistically insignificant. There are substantial early-career earnings returns to attending any top school, and this effect diminishes in the first six years of lawyers' careers before expanding twelve years after bar entry. These findings call for further research on how postgraduate professional education shapes access to earnings opportunities long after school completion. Chapter 3 presents a descriptive analysis of the educational backgrounds of elite corporate lawyers. Novel web-scraped data on the universe of lawyers at top corporate law firms yields evidence that degrees from elite schools are not necessary preconditions for employment in elite firms. While graduates of elite higher education institutions are overrepresented in elite firms, the observed data suggest that many high-earning, high-status professionals rose from relatively obscure educational backgrounds, contrary to assertions in recent qualitative literature on elites. These findings suggest a need for further study on pathways into the power elite. Together, the three papers use quantitative methods to challenge and advance theory on the role of higher education institutions in the formation of America's elite. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com.bibliotheek.ehb.be/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]