Art
Despite the low pay, Alison Tremblay couldn't imagine a job without a camera in her hand.
Median starting pay: $33,500
Median mid-career pay: $54,800
It's not a pretty picture out there for fine art majors, with many graduates still looking for work or squeezing by on measly pay.
Alison Tremblay, an art major with a photography concentration from Alfred University, wasn't getting by on income from freelance photo gigs and was forced to take a job in data entry.
"[It] pays the bills but it's not what I want to be doing at all," she said. "But since I can't find a full time job in my field, I'm stuck doing this until I make enough money to support myself."
But despite the struggle, Tremblay says she wouldn't have picked a different major.
"I guess I wish I had taken more practical courses like business, but I couldn't imagine not majoring in art and not having a camera in my hand," she said. "I'm just trying to take my skills and turn them into something where I can actually make money -- that's the real struggle."
NEXT: Interior Design
Last updated January 14 2011: 2:40 PM ET
Source: PayScale.com
How PayScale.com determined salary: Survey includes national median starting and mid-career salary for 120 popular bachelor degree majors. Salaries are for graduates who received bachelor's degrees from schools in the United States who work full time in the United States.
How PayScale.com determined salary: Survey includes national median starting and mid-career salary for 120 popular bachelor degree majors. Salaries are for graduates who received bachelor's degrees from schools in the United States who work full time in the United States.
