A survey of salaries and employment levels among university graduates should make students think carefully about their majors.

Professional majors such as dentistry, optometry and pharmacy show high employment levels, with annual salaries approaching $100,000, a study undertaken for the Council of Ontario Universities finds. Humanities graduates reported far lower earnings, with artists toiling for the love of their profession at an average of $35,000 annually, the lowest of all graduates.

Business, health, social sciences, education and theology graduates ranked in the middle.

Regardless of field, most university graduates find work. Forestry students, who rank in the middle of the pack for salaries, have a 100 per cent employment rate, higher than that of computer science, math and physical science specialists.