This paper examines the initial academic placement of 239 male, Ph.D. biochemists. Position in the academic stratification system, according to the normative structure of science proposed by Merton, should be allocated universalistically on the basis of a scientist's contribution to the body of scientific knowledge. Our analyses, however, show that after controlling for the effects of doctoral origins and the prestige of the mentor, preemployment productivity has an insignificant effect on the prestige of the scientist's first academic position. This basic finding is elaborated by examining the effects of postdoctoral fellowships, additional characteristics of the doctoral department, and the academic rank of the position obtained. In no instance does preemployment productivity affect the prestige of the first job. The universalistic nature of the scientific stratification system is assessed by comparing those factors which determine job allocation to those which predict scientific productivity later in the career. It is found that prestige of a scientist's first teaching position is least influenced by those factors which are most predictive of future productivity and most influenced by those factors which are likely to involve ascriptive processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]