Abstract
Technical education in developing countries is given extreme priority due to the overwhelming need for it. Engineering schools top the list of importance in these countries. While governmental agencies reserve the right to direct students to specific areas of specialization, the productivity of the prospective engineers during their studies and after graduation is highly correlated to their desirability and enjoyment of their fields. As a result, officials find themselves in a dilemma on how to strike a balance between conflicting objectives. A mathematical model is developed for allocating pre-engineering students to available majors at an engineering college. The model considers departments' capacities, and students' preferences and grade point averages. The model is formulated as a goal programming problem and its applicability is tested using real data.