Systems and methods are provided for network slice selection during an initial connection. A wireless station receives, from a core network device, network slice data for each network slice available via the wireless station, wherein the network slice data includes a slice identifier and corresponding slice characteristics for each network slice. The wireless station receives, from a user equipment (UE) device, a registration request message that indicates a network slice characteristic required by an application being executed on UE device. The wireless station selects, based on the network slice data from the core network device and the network slice characteristic from the UE device, one of the slice identifiers for servicing the UE device.