diff --git a/school_center.py b/school_center.py
index 271e2f0..a494636 100644
--- a/school_center.py
+++ b/school_center.py
@@ -17,16 +17,6 @@
 configure_logging()
 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
-
-def create_dir(dirPath: str):
-    """
-    Create the given directory if it doesn't exists
-    - Creates all the directories needed to resolve to the provided directory path
-    """
-    if not os.path.exists(dirPath):
-        os.makedirs(dirPath)
-
-
 def haversine_distance(lat1, lon1, lat2, lon2):
     """
     Calculate the great circle distance between two points
@@ -187,16 +177,31 @@ def is_allocated(scode1: str, scode2: str) -> bool:
                     help="Tab separated (TSV) file containing center details")
 parser.add_argument('prefs_tsv', default='prefs.tsv',
                     help="Tab separated (TSV) file containing preference scores")
-parser.add_argument(
-    '-o', '--output', default='school-center.tsv', help='Output file')
+parser.add_argument('-o', '--output', default='school-center.tsv',
+                     help='Output file')
 parser.add_argument('-s', '--seed', action='store', metavar='SEEDVALUE',
                      default=None, type=float, 
                      help='Initialization seed for Random Number Generator')
 
 args = parser.parse_args()
-
 random = random.Random(args.seed) #overwrites the random module to use seeded rng
 
+output_dir, output_filename = os.path.split(args.output)
+
+if len(output_dir) == 0:
+    output_dir = 'results/' # Default Directory
+
+if len(output_filename) == 0:
+    output_filename = parser.get_default('output')
+
+# Create Directory if specified Directory has not been created 
+if output_dir and not os.path.exists(output_dir):
+    os.makedirs(output_dir)
+
+output_file_path = os.path.join(output_dir, output_filename)
+
+intermediate_file_path = os.path.join(output_dir, 'school-center-distance.tsv')
+
 schools = sorted(read_tsv(args.schools_tsv), key= school_sort_key)
 centers = read_tsv(args.centers_tsv)
 centers_remaining_cap = {c['cscode']: int(c['capacity']) for c in centers}
@@ -205,10 +210,8 @@ def is_allocated(scode1: str, scode2: str) -> bool:
 remaining = 0       # stores count of non allocated students
 allocations = {}    # to track mutual allocations
 
-OUTPUT_DIR = 'results/'
-create_dir(OUTPUT_DIR)  # Create the output directory if not exists
-with open('{}school-center-distance.tsv'.format(OUTPUT_DIR), 'w', encoding='utf-8') as intermediate_file, \
-        open(OUTPUT_DIR + args.output, 'w', encoding='utf-8') as a_file:
+with open(intermediate_file_path, 'w', encoding='utf-8') as intermediate_file, \
+open(output_file_path, 'w', encoding='utf-8') as a_file:
     writer = csv.writer(intermediate_file, delimiter="\t")
     writer.writerow(["scode", 
                      "s_count",