  We consider the phenomenological implications of a class of compactified
string theories which naturally reproduces the flavour multiplet structure of
the Standard Model. The implications for gauge unification depends on which of
three possibilities is realised for obtaining light Higgs multiplets. The more
conventional one leads to predictions for the gauge couplings close to that of
the MSSM but with an increased value of the unification scale. The other two
cases offer a mechanism for bringing the prediction for the strong coupling
into agreement with the measured value while still increasing the unification
scale. The various possibilities lead to different expectations for the
structure of the quark masses.
