UF offers five of the top 15 majors with the highest employment rates: pharmacy, astronomy, environmental engineering, nursing, and nuclear and radiological sciences.
The unemployment rates range from 0 to 2.2 percent.
The Wall Street Journal calculated these percentages with data from the 2010 U.S. Census and listed undergraduate majors with their corresponding unemployment rates.
Astronomy doesn't have one. Nineteen undergraduate students at UF are seeking either Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science degrees in astronomy.
"Most of our students have been able to get jobs although sometimes people have had to go a little bit outside the field," said Haywood Smith Jr., associate professor and undergraduate coordinator of astronomy.
Smith explained that opportunities for astronomy students such as undergraduate research and required courses could be useful even outside the field of astronomy.
Bernard A. Mair, associate provost of undergraduate affairs, said UF does look at job markets to better prepare students for their desired fields.
"Majors in fields with professional standards such as nursing, engineering and education are constantly being revised to set these standards...and reflect current emphases in their areas of expertise," he said.
One example that provost of Academic Affairs Joseph Glover offered is the upcoming addition of a biomedical engineering Bachelor of Science degree to the Fall 2012 registrar. Glover said the program was created specifically to meet the needs of an expanding field.
Several of the university's majors are on the opposite end of the spectrum. UF offers seven of the 15 majors with the lowest employment rates.
Fine arts, architecture and psychology are among the majors with the least jobs for graduates.
Eighteen-year-old freshman Anjanie Pandey switched from fine arts to nursing at the beginning of the Spring 2012 semester. This moved her from a field with an approximate 16.2 percent chance of unemployment to a field with a 2.2 percent chance.
"I knew that nursing has a very high employment rate, and that was particularly attractive, but nursing was always one of my top choices," Pandey said. "When I figured out that music performance wasn't going to work out, I decided to pursue it."
The College of Nursing offers various avenues of support to its students and recent graduates. These services include professor mentoring, required practicum experience and an annual nursing-only job fair held at the school.
After a survey of recent UF nursing graduates, the college found that almost 90 percent of those who responded were employed.
Pandey is looking for a volunteer position to make sure she enjoys nursing and to help her future career.
