Mining engineer graduates have a starting salary of $80,000

MINING engineers fresh out of university have the highest starting salaries, earning at least $80,000 a year, thanks to the mining boom.

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LAWYERS and doctors might make the big bucks down the track but mining engineers fresh out of university have the highest starting salaries, earning at least $80,000 a year.

The mining boom has given engineering graduates a $31,000 headstart on the average graduate salary of $49,000.

A survey, conducted annually by Graduate Careers Australia (GCA), found dentistry graduates aged under 25 were next in line and can expect to pull $72,000 fresh out of university, just ahead of optometrists on $70,000.

Chemical engineering graduates can earn upwards of $61,000 annually.

"In the past five years, engineers have been the top earners straight out of university, followed by dentists and optometrists," Bruce Guthrie, research manager with GCA, said.

Ten years ago medicine and dentistry topped the list.

The most popular courses now include accountancy, nursing and business studies with accountant graduates earning $45,000, nursing $46,000 and business graduates receiving $53,000.

Law and medicine grad- uates can earn $50,000 and $54,000 respectively.

The lowest paid fresh out of university were architectural students earning just $35,000, on par with pharmacists.

"It's a structural issue with the way they are paid in that they start off as trainees, both architects and pharmacists," Mr Guthrie said.

The gender wage disparity starts immediately with male graduates averaging a $50,000 wage in comparison with $48,000 for females.

The average Australian wage is $67,000 a year. Choice of university can also affect job and salary outcomes according to the latest 2012 Good University Guide.

Graduates of the University of Sydney, Macquarie University, and the UNSW earned the highest graduate starting salary with each scoring five stars in the category.

The Australian Graduate Survey ranked UNSW first with a starting salary of $53,295 compared to Sydney University earning $50,000.

"The best advice we give is choose the uni that delivers the best outcomes for the field that interests you most," Ross White, from the Good University Guide, said.

The University of Western Sydney (UWS) only scored one star for graduate salary.

UNSW and Wollongong were the star performers for getting their graduates full-time work, each scoring five stars while Sydney University only achieved two stars for the category.

UWS again only scored one star for full- time employment for their graduates as did Southern Cross University.

Alice Sila is in her final year of a mining engineering course and the 22-year-old has already secured a job next year.

"I think it's roughly $100,000, it's big money for a 22-year-old," she said.

She is aware she will be earning more than her parents fresh out of university.

Classmate and friend Kara Newbury, 22, has a job earning just under $100,000. "It's ridiculous isn't it," she said.