This paper is a three-part narrative report of a study in which structured interviews were conducted with 30 professional women in higher education in West Berlin to determine their career attitudes and aspirations. Background information includes an account of the author's preparation for conducting the study and her concern for semantics in translating interview questions from English to German. The description of the method, which incorporates a view of the subjects' and the culture's attitudes toward females as professionals in higher education, is presented in four steps: Gaining an understanding of the administrative structure of the four institutions in West Berlin which were included in the study; gathering information on the comparative numbers of men and women at each rank of the professorial ladder at these institutions; selection of the 30 women to be interviewed; and conducting the actual interviews. Major conclusions discuss implications for the future of women professionals in higher education in West Germany, with two of the findings revealing that (1) most of the women feel that the bias against women in academia is so entrenched that they must not only perform exceptionally, but they must have great courage and strength to persist and advance, and (2) as far as choice of career was concerned, only 11 of the women ended up in their first choice. Of the other 19, at least half cited specific reasons related to discrimination against women for having to choose their second or third career option. (SH)