HSC results are in - heres our guide to what to study if you want a decent salary after graduation, where you should go, and the unis and subjects to avoid

As the Class of 2024 receive their long-awaited HSC results, heres Daily Mail Australias guide to choosing a degree that will get you an above-average salary right after graduation, where you should go to maximise your earning potential - and the courses and universities to avoid.

The classic advice on choosing a degree is to follow your heart: the more interested you are in your subject, the more successful you will be, both academically and in later life. But, in todays job market, does that hold true?

Get your decision right and youre on course for a satisfying, well-paid career with a manageable loan repayment. Get it wrong and youre saddled with poor job prospects, crippling HECS debt and a degree thats barely worth the paper its printed on.

If youre the parent of a teenager - especially one considering an arts or humanities subject - take a look at the numbers. You might get a shock.

Australias worst-performing universities in terms of graduate starting salaries (generally speaking) are the ones that offer humanities degrees. This is true even if the institutions are considered prestigious.

Creative arts degrees have some of the lowest median graduate salaries and the poorest prospects for full-time work, with years of study leading to a job with typical full-time pay of just $59,500, based on data from the Quality Indicators for Learning and Teachings graduate outcomes survey.

This is well below the $71,000 mid-point salary for all students four to six months after graduating.

Of Australias 41 universities looked at in the Department of Education-funded research, 22 had median salaries below the overall mid-point, three were right in the middle and 16 were above that level.

Australias worst-performing universities when it comes to graduate salaries are more likely to teach humanities subjects (pictured is the University of Sydney Queer Action Collective)

Of that list, five universities had mid-point graduate salaries below Australias median salary of $67,600, which covers both full-time and part-time workers.

Maurice Newman, who was Macquarie University chancellor from 2002 to 2008, says arts graduates are often unsuited to private-sector employment because they have been taught to despise societys traditions.

Perhaps thats because these days, arts degrees have become so polemical, graduates are less suited to profit-making ventures, he tells me.

But Andrew Norton, a professor of higher education policy at the Australian National Universitys Centre for Social Research and Methods, points out that arts graduates historically had lower salaries than those doing a vocational degree such as nursing or teaching even before the courses became more woke.

They dont have a lock on any well-paid occupation, unlike say nursing or teaching or these other degrees that lead to particular jobs, he says.

Employers generally prefer a particular degree, and as a result [arts and humanities graduates] always lose out compared to graduates who do have a degree that is directly linked to an occupation.

The skills they have are not as immediately valuable to employers as the people who have done more vocationally-orientated courses.

Australias worst performing universities 

The worst-performing universities when it comes to graduate salaries include Bond University, a private higher education centre on the Gold Coast that offers a Bachelor of Creative Arts, and a mid-point graduate salary of just $60,300. 

Torrens University, in Adelaide, is the next lowest with a median graduate salary of $62,600, and online courses including a Bachelor of Branded Fashion Design.

The prestigious University of Melbourne has the third lowest median graduate salary of $65,300 and offers a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. It also has a Bachelor of Creative Arts, now being phased out, offering the study of radical fiction.

This subject will examine the concept of radical fiction in creative writing in order to recognise the ways radical fiction can critique and subvert dominant cultural regimes, the University of Melbourne handbook states.

Through reading and discussion in these areas, and through drafting and exercises, students will be expected to produce their own radical work.

RMIT University, also in Melbourne, has the fourth lowest graduate salary of $66,800, and offers a Bachelor of Arts majoring in Creative Writing.

The University of Western Australia has the fifth lowest graduate salary of $67,300 and it offers a Bachelor of Arts with a Fine Arts major to establish your career in the field of contemporary art and culture.

Communications, an arts degree often done by aspiring journalists, is also on the lower side at $65,000 - the same level as tourism and hospitality.

This is worse than nursing and science/mathematics graduates, who have starting salaries of $69,400 and $69,000, respectively. 

Media qualifications are particularly woke, often requiring students to do cultural studies subjects on queer theory, gender studies and postmodernism.

Macquarie University, which has lower graduate salaries of $70,000, specialises in critical studies of gender, sexuality and power.

Arts degrees have below-average graduate salaries, with those studying humanities, culture and social sciences typically earning just $69,400 after finishing university.

But they do better than business and management graduates on $69,200. 

Architecture and built environment was also on the lower side at $66,000, as was veterinary science on $67,400.

Surprisingly, pharmacy has the lowest median graduate salary of $55,500.

The Pharmaceutical Society of Australia notes the average wage for early career pharmacists with less than 10 years experience is just $66,955, or $32.77 an hour, making them one of Australias lowest remunerated, tertiary educated health professions.

Maurice Newman, who was Macquarie University chancellor from 2002 to 2008, says arts graduates are often unsuited to private-sector employment because they have been taught to despise societys traditions (RMIT graduates are seen in Melbournes CBD in December 2014) 

Pharmacy has the lowest median graduate salary of $55,500 (stock image)

At the other end of the spectrum, dentistry graduates are the highest paid at $94,400, even putting it ahead of medicine on $85,000.

Social work has a surprisingly high median graduate salary of $77,300 but it is an example of how government-funded roles are often better remunerated to encourage graduates to work in regional and disadvantaged areas.

Engineering is also on the higher side at $75,000, on par with teaching but ahead of computing and IT on $74,400, law and paralegal studies on $73,000 and psychology and rehabilitation, both on $71,000.

Agriculture was also right near the middle at $71,100, as was health services and support on $70,800.

Highest graduate salaries 

The University of Southern Queensland has the highest graduate salary of $80,000 and is one of the few places offering a Bachelor of Aviation that teaches a student how to fly a Boeing 737 or an Airbus A320, via a simulator, with a view to becoming a commercial airline pilot.

The University of Central Queensland in Rockhampton is second on the list with a median graduate salary of $78,300 and it offers a Bachelor of Oral Health. 

The University of Tasmania is third highest with a median graduate salary of $78,000, and teaches a Bachelor of Medicine and a Bachelor of Surgery. That degree gives students a mix of training in Hobart and regional centres in Launceston and Burnie.

Charles Sturt University is fourth on the list with a median graduate salary of $75,700, offering a Bachelor of Dental Science.

At the other end of the spectrum, dentistry graduates are the highest paid at $94,400, even putting it ahead of medicine on $85,000 (stock image)

Course satisfaction

In another twist, the degrees that produce the best-paid graduates for an undergraduate degree have some of the lowest course satisfaction scores.

The overall score for all bachelor degrees was 76 per cent.

But for dentistry, the degree with the highest graduate salary, just 60.7 per cent are satisfied with their course.

Pharmacy degrees produce the lowest-paid graduates but they have above-average satisfaction levels of 81.3 per cent.

Creative arts graduates report a 72.7 per cent course satisfaction rating, ahead of 73.4 per cent for communications graduates.

Full-time work prospects 

When it comes to full-time work, just 53.5 per cent of creative arts graduates work at least 35 hours a week. This is well below the 79 per cent level for all degrees.

Communications degrees have just 64.9 per cent working full-time, likely due to the troubled state of the media industry.

But with Australia suffering from a doctor shortage, 95.6 per cent of medicine graduates work full-time.

Pharmacists may be the lowest paid graduates but 98.4 per cent of them are working full-time - the highest of any degree. 

Dentistry, the best paid after graduating, has 83.2 per cent working full-time. 

The Quality Indicators for Learning and Teaching study of 363,248 graduates covered 130 educational institutions, including 42 universities, with results published for 41 of them.