Meet Josh Schoonover

We were lucky to catch up with Josh Schoonover recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Josh, thank you for being such a positive, uplifting person. We’ve noticed that so many of the successful folks we’ve had the good fortune of connecting with have high levels of optimism and so we’d love to hear about your optimism and where you think it comes from.

My optimism comes out of a place of darkness, believe it or not. I was always naturally optimistic growing up, but then I became an adult and the Real World smacked me in the face. Financial struggles, physical setbacks, getting laid off… all these things led me to a place of bitterness and resentment, but in the end that got me nowhere. So now, I make the conscious decision to be optimistic, knowing full-well that things don’t always work out exactly the way I want them to, but if I keep going, there will always be light at the end of the tunnel.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

I’m blessed to be able to work with international students from all over the world as a Designated School Official (DSO) at a private university in Southern California. Our school is unique in the sense that it was founded and developed with international students in mind, so we have a lot of great resources for this community. That being said, it became obvious to me that there were still needs that our international students had beyond what we were able to offer at the time, and that’s when it hit me…

If our school, which specializes in supporting international students, still wasn’t able to meet all their needs, then how much more so must international students be needing additional support at other schools that weren’t so focused on them?

And that’s how Ask A DSO was born.

Ask A DSO is a reliable source of guidance and support for all international students, regardless of which school they go to or where they are in their academic lifecycle.

In fact, we offer the world’s first DSO-led community for international students.

Sure, there are Facebook groups, subreddits, etc., but none of them are led by someone who works with the U.S. government’s Students & Exchance Visitor Program (SEVP) on a daily basis, like I have for the last 8 years.

During that time, I’ve helped international students get approved for:

-4,000+ student visas
-3,000+ OPT / STEM approvals
-1,500+ H1B Work Visas
-400+ green cards

As important as these successes are, the most meaningful part of working with international students are the relationships I’ve made along the way.

That’s why I’m focused on building community.

Every international student, at some point, made the brave & difficult decision to leave their home (and maybe even their family) to travel to the U.S. in pursuit of the international dream.

And it’s my mission to help them live it!

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

Going from an International Student Advisor to a business owner that’s offering a revolutionary new way of supporting international students required innovation, tenacity, and a not a small amount of courage.

For a long time, I was focused on taking the traditional career route- get a job at a school, learn and get better at my job, and work my way up over time. For a variety of reasons, that path started having less appeal as time went by. Part of it was getting let go, watching as one of my schools shut down without warning, and eventually finding myself in rooms with people my age who were several steps above me in the org chart. I couldn’t help but wonder, where did I go wrong? What were they doing that I wasn’t?

The traditional path didn’t work for me, so I had to get creative and develop my own path. It required me to think outside the box, to color outside the lines… to innovate. I started thinking about what I could do for international students that wasn’t currently being offered.

Which leads me to the next quality- tenacity. My first attempt at offering private international student support fell flat. It was a lot of build up, a lot of work, and it was all met with resounding, deafening slice. Nobody wanted or needed what I had to offer. So I tried a different offer. Then a different one. Then another…

And look, I wanted to quit.

Many times.

But in the most challenging moment, the only thing that would have been worse than continuing to be rejected over, and over, and over…

Would have been for all that blood, sweat, and tears to have been for nothing.

Plus, I had to be honest with myself, I’m now at a point where my goals for reaching international students have gotten too big. I’ll never be able to have the kind of impact that I want to have by taking the traditional route.

All of this has taken a kind of courage that I haven’t had to muster in a long time. Probably not since the first time I put on football pads and ran full speed at another person who was running full speed back at me. But it’s like that, every moment, every day.

Launching Ask A DSO was a big risk.

I didn’t know how my employer was going to react.

I didn’t know if I had what it took to be a successful entrepreneur.

I did know, however, that I wasn’t going to live the rest of my life not knowing.

I learned, over time, that courage is a funny thing.

The more you practice it, the more of it you get.

It’s like working out a muscle.

So to anyone out there wondering if they have the courage to chase a goal to completion, I would say to start with the first step.

Have the courage to take Step One.

It just might help build up the courage for the next one, and the next, and the next…

How can folks who want to work with you connect?

Ask A DSO is here to help international students live their American Dream.

If you’re a current or prospective international student, or you work with them in your line of business, let’s chat about how we can best support you.

Schedule a call with us at https://calendly.com/josh-apk/connect-call or send an email to info@askadso.com to learn more.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.askadso.com/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/askadso
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshschoonover22/
• Twitter: https://x.com/askadso
• Other: https://www.skool.com/the-american-dream-society-1012