Most people go to uni to get as good a degree as possible, so they can get as good a job as possible, so they can earn as much money as possible, so they can live the best life possible. But very few people have actually researched the average graduate salary for their subject.

• Click here to find out which graduate schemes are still open.

Below we bring you the official figures detailing how much graduates from each subject earn - the data is taken from the 2008/9 Higher Education Statistics Agency report published earlier this year.

Average graduate salary by subject

Rank	Subject	Average salary of graduates
1	Dentistry	£30,143
2	Medicine	£29,146
3	Chemical Engineering	£27,151
4	Veterinary Medicine	£25,807
5	Economics	£25,637
6	Middle Eastern and African Studies	£25,004
7	General Engineering	£24,937
8	Social Work	£24,630
9	Mechanical Engineering	£24,337
10	Civil Engineering	£23,720
11	Aeronautical and Manufacturing Engineering	£23,478
12	Librarianship & Information Management	£23,246
13	Mathematics	£23,160
14	Physics & Astronomy	£22,946
15	Electrical and Electronic Engineering	£22,897
16	Building	£21,979
17	Nursing	£21,910
18	Theology & Religious Studies	£21,749
19	Computer Science	£21,712
20	Accounting & Finance	£21,551
21	Geology	£21,182
22	Business Studies	£21,007
23	Education	£20,890
24	Other Subjects Allied to Medicine	£20,869
25	Classics & Ancient History	£20,864
26	Politics	£20,831
27	East and South Asian Studies	£20,750
28	Sociology	£20,744
29	German	£20,657
30	Iberian Languages	£20,573
31	Food Science	£20,505
32	Anatomy & Physiology	£20,420
33	Anthropology	£20,223
34	History of Art, Architecture and Design	£20,103
35	Philosophy	£20,097
36	Pharmacology & Pharmacy	£20,059
37	French	£20,034
38	Materials Technology	£20,006
39	Land and Property Management	£19,993
40	Town and Country Planning and Landscape	£19,974
41	Chemistry	£19,948
42	History	£19,909
43	Geography & Environmental Science	£19,844
44	Social Policy	£19,570
45	Russian	£19,358
46	Biological Sciences	£19,204
47	Agriculture and Forestry	£18,933
48	Law	£18,911
49	Italian	£18,745
50	English	£18,338
51	Sports Science	£18,315
52	Psychology	£18,173
53	Linguistics	£18,074
54	Architecture	£17,873
55	Celtic Studies	£17,779
56	Archaeology	£17,675
57	Hospitality, Leisure, Recreation & Tourism	£17,664
58	American Studies	£17,511
59	Drama, Dance and Cinematics	£17,446
60	Communication and Media Studies	£17,358
61	Art & Design	£17,300
62	Music	£16,925
63	Average	£20,964

As you can see, the subject you take has a huge impact on your future earning potential. As you might have expected the science-based subjects such as medicine and engineering dominate the top of the list - while at the other end of the spectrum the creative subjects such as music, design and journalism prove to have the lowest average graduate salary.

Before panicking, however, it’s important to remember that these are merely average salaries - just because you study psychology, for example, doesn’t mean you won’t go straight into a very well-paid job. The job application process is about more than just your qualifications, so if your degree appears lower down on our list perhaps you could think about what else you could do to improve your employability.

Equally, just because the average graduate salary for your subject may be lower, this doesn’t mean that your earnings will be fixed at that level for long. Having a degree of any sort means that your salary is much more likely to increase at a faster rate than someone who isn’t a graduate.

If you are particularly worried about the figures in the table above then it might also be worth thinking about shifting your aims and plans for the next few years. It’s never too late - if you think you are taking the wrong subject it’s always worth speaking to your university to see if there is the possibility of changing degrees.

You could also look at changing direction after your degree is over by retraining in another field by taking a postgraduate course such as a Masters or PhD.

• Click here to find out which graduate schemes are still open.

[Image: David Michael Morris]

Tags: Going to university , University advice , Money advice , Money management , Employability , Career advice