In a wireless network or other communication system, admission of users to the system is based on predicted scheduling gain. A scheduler is configured to manage access to network resources for users already admitted to the system. An admission control module is coupled to the scheduler, and determines a predicted scheduling gain of the scheduler under an operating scenario involving admission of at least one additional user to the system. The predicted scheduling gain is processed to generate at least one performance metric which is used to make an admission control decision regarding admission of the at least one additional user to the system.