These are the Top 8 South African Universities where graduates get the highest starting salaries.

So you’ve visited all the career fairs you can attend, and spoken to a number of students, yet you're still struggling to choose a university to study at. Perhaps its time to let a different factor decide your fate…

A local survey by MyBroadband conducted a study to establish which South African university graduates have the highest starting salary on average. In other words, which tertiary institution’s alumni receive the most Randelas for their very first post-varsity position.

Alumni from all of South Africa’s universities were surveyed and 1 787 graduates disclosed their starting salaries. To rank the starting salaries, only the graduates who started working in 2013, 2014 or 2015 were considered.

Read: How do I know which university is right for me?

And the winner is… the University of Stellenbosch!

It was found that, on average, Maties graduates start out with an average of R17 438 per month, more than any other first time employees.

Second on the list of universities that potentially lead to bigger first-time bucks are graduates from the University of Pretoria, averaged to take home R17 018 per month, while the average general UCT grad can expect to earn around R16 834 in the beginning of their career.

Read: Are your salary expectations reasonable?

Coming in at the 4th position is a graduate from Wits University with a reported average starting salary of R16 158, followed by North-West University with R15 853 (that’s only R300 less).

The University of Johannesburg, UKZN and Unisa conclude the Top 8 list with average starting salaries of R13 514, R12 365 and R10 233 respectively.

Send this article to your mates that have these institutions on their CV... were their first salaries the same? And always remember, Careers24 can help you find a great first job too!