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Starting Salaries by Area of Study

Starting Salaries by Area of Study

There is quite a wide margin between the top and the bottom of the starting salaries by area of study but the couple of disciplines at the top and at the bottom seem to be outliers and most of the starting salaries are in the general vicinity of each other.

In a number of cases the starting salaries can be affected by the extent to which the graduate is able to determine how many hours they work. The examples of dentistry and optometry both have some scope for extended work hours at the graduate’s discretion, and this might possibly be increasing the reported starting salary in some cases. On the other hand, salaried graduate positions in areas such as biological science and social work have almost no scope for extending work hours and thereby increasing the starting salary.

Other factors affecting starting salaries by discipline include the level of public or private employment and the level of self-employment, contract work, and salaried positions. The various areas of study can have different combinations of these factors which can impact on the final reported starting salary as it appears in the table.

Starting Salaries by Area of Study $,000
Rank Area $,000 Size Last
1 Dentistry 80 63 1
2 Optometry 70 22 2
3 Engineering 64 1271 4
4 Medicine 60 388 5
4 Earth Sciences 60 87 3
6 Education 57 1032 7
7 Law 55 304 9
7 Physical Sciences 55 82 8
7 Mathematics 55 59 6
10 Paramedical Studies 54 1808 11
11 Computer Science 53 325 10
12 Accounting 50 781 15
12 Psychology 50 253 15
12 Social Sciences 50 118 19
12 Agricultural Science 50 107 12
12 Social Work 50 97 12
17 Architecture & Building 49.2 284 17
18 Economics / Business 49 1983 17
19 Biological Sciences 48 421 12
20 Veterinary Science 46 68 20
21 Humanities 45 922 20
22 Art & Design 40 269 22
23 Pharmacy 39 278 23

Key & Notes

* $,000 average starting salary in $1,000

* Size respondent sample size

* Last Last year ranking

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