 <p>Try changing your ng-options to something like:</p> <pre><code>&lt;select class="form-control" id="Event_Cat" data-ng-model="vm.selectedCategory" data-ng-options="opt.id as opt.label for opt in categoryValues | orderBy:'label'" required&gt; &lt;option style="display:none" value=""&gt;Select a Category&lt;/option&gt; &lt;/select&gt; </code></pre> <p>And make this line change in your controller:</p> <pre><code>$scope.vm.selectedCategory = $scope.categoryValues[currentDetailIndex].id; </code></pre> <p><strong>Edit for multiple selection:</strong></p> <pre><code>&lt;select class="form-control" id="Event_Cat" data-ng-model="selectedCategoriesIds" data-ng-options="opt.id as opt.label for opt in categoryValues | orderBy:'label'" required multiple&gt; &lt;option style="display:none" value=""&gt;Select a Category&lt;/option&gt; &lt;/select&gt; </code></pre> <p>In your controller, add the items you want selected to $scope.selectedCategoriesIds e.g.:</p> <pre><code>$scope.selectedCategoriesIds = []; $scope.selectedCategoriesIds.push('18'); $scope.selectedCategoriesIds.push('80'); </code></pre>