Techniques for performing priority scheduling and admission control in a communication network are described. In an aspect, data flows may be prioritized, and packets for data flows with progressively higher priority levels may be placed at points progressively closer to the head of a queue and may then experience progressively shorter queuing delays. In another aspect, a packet for a terminal may be transferred from a source cell to a target cell due to handoff and may be credited for the amount of time the packet has already waited in a queue at the source cell. In yet another aspect, all priority and non-priority data flows may be admitted if cell loading is light, only priority data flows may be admitted if the cell loading is heavy, and all priority data flows and certain non-priority data flows may be admitted if the cell loading is moderate.