People tend to assume that the motivations for their behavior--whether choosing a school, buying a car or pursuing a particular career--are readily available to them, waiting to be articulated. But a great deal of new multi-disciplinary research--in psychology, cognition, neuroscience, linguistics, and anthropology--is suggesting otherwise. In fact, some researchers believe that "about 95 percent of thought, emotion, and learning occur in the unconscious mind--that is, without one's awareness." Traditional research methods, which rely on verbal self-report, are tapping into a very limited portion of students' self-knowledge. The purpose of this article is twofold: a) to introduce a new way of thinking about what people know and how they communicate it; and b) to present the findings of a study conducted at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to get to know prospective students better. If the way one's minds work is fundamentally different than one has previously assumed, then he/she needs to rely on different methods to tap into this knowledge. The authors chose to utilize a patented research methodology developed by Penn State professor Jerry Olson and Harvard business professor Gerald Zaltman for the purposes of this study. The authors describe in detail the techniques used by their firm, Olson Zaltman Associates, although other approaches are available. (Contains 2 figures.)