  We study the vortex nucleation in a finite Bose-Einstein condensate. Using a
set of non-local and chiral boundary conditions to solve the
Schr$\ddot{o}$dinger equation of non-interacting bosons in a rotating trap, we
obtain a quantitative expression for the characteristic angular velocity for
vortex nucleation in a condensate which is found to be 35% of the transverse
harmonic trapping frequency.
