To add to my reply above, if a child loves music, is gd at it, think that a dsa sch can develop him/ her in that area, likes the music prog in that school, like the environment, culture, and other things offered by the school, then he/she should try for dsa in that school. If however, the child is well trained in music but does not enjoy it or does not like the dsa sch or its prog, then it would not be a gd idea for him/her to apply dsa in that sch. If you get into a sch through dsa in a specialised domain (eg sports , music etc), the sch would require you to keep to that domain. So if you apply dsa thru badminton you have to take badminton when you are in that sch. Similarly, if you apply dsa thru music, you have to take music. So a student who have difficulty coping with his academic subjects in sec, may find it very though as he/ she not only had to cope with the core academic subjects, he would still need to deal with his specialised program (eg badminton or music). He/she may find little time or energy to cope with both. So if one has doubt about being able to cope with the core subjects as well as the specialised area (eg music, sports), then one shld think twice abt applying dsa thru specialised domain. Note however, there are many sch who offered dsa (academic) and some do not require you to specify a niche domain. So you can get in thru dsa thru general (academic) selection tests and interviews. Hope that throws some light on dsa.