In Angular, you can specify a placeholder value for a <select> by doing something like so:

      <select ng-options="o.name for o in options" ng-model="model">
        <option value="">Please choose</option>
      </select>

This still works, however even when you choose an option in the list, the 'Please choose' placeholder still shows. To get around this, you could use an ng-if on the placeholder <option> to hide the option if a model value was selected, like so:

      <select ng-options="o.name for o in options" ng-model="model">
        <option ng-if="!model" value="">Please choose</option>
      </select>

However this no longer works in Angular 1.4, the placeholder no longer shows and the entire list is cleared if you choose one of the other options.

I have created a plunkr to demonstrate this, see here: http://plnkr.co/edit/NDXZLkGavwBU3Qg5YAtT