The Node selection (NS) and variable and direction selection (VDS) heuristics significantly affect the time to find the MIP integer-optimal solution when using branch and bound method. In this thesis, various variable and direction selection methods are tested coupled with the node selection heuristic by Wojtaszek and Chinneck[2010]. Rules are developed to select VDS / NS configuration depending on MIP characteristics. Empirical results show a new VDS / NS configuration outperforms the state of the art as well as the VDS / NS configuration found by Wojtaszek and Chinneck. The hypothesis that a feasibility - oriented VDS coupled with a good NS heuristic will provide the fastest MIP solution time is disproved. A new hybrid VDS/NS selection heuristic is developed and shown to provide better results than any individual VDS/NS configuration or the state of the art default configuration.