A method and apparatus for selecting a transport format resource combination (TFRC) using an information theoretic approach are provided. The TFRC may be selected in a medium access control (MAC) layer for transmission of data in a code division multiple access (CDMA) wireless communication system. The maximum number of spreading codes available for transmission and the set of possible TFRCs may be determined based on channel characteristics. For each transport block set size (TBSS) in the set of possible TFRCs, a TFRC is selected with the largest number of spreading codes within the maximum number of spreading codes for a corresponding minimum coding rate. The corresponding code rate for each selected TFRCs is compared to a threshold to select a corresponding type of modulation. One of the selected TFRCs is selected to be provided to the physical layer that best matches the CQI and maximizes the TBSS.