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This is a tough time to graduate from college. While unemployment is high across the board, recent grads face a brutal 9.3% unemployment rate -- the highest that statistic has been for them since the Great Recession began. Worse yet, studies have shown that fewer than half of recent college students are finding jobs that relate to their majors, and just more than half felt their jobs made use of what they learned as undergrads.

So how can college grads improve the value of their high-priced degrees? The simple answer lies in choice of major. Some majors, like mining engineering, have extremely low unemployment rates, while others, like library studies, are practically a one-way ticket to joblessness.

Most students tend to pick a major based on their own skills and passions -- what they're good at and what they enjoy. But there are ways to do that and also chose a good one for finding a job after commencement. By weighing the skills required for various majors, the unemployment rates of their graduates, and the salaries a particular degree are likely to lead to, it's possible to avoid some nasty surprises when graduation comes.

To simplify the process, we've looked at a few of the highest-unemployment majors and offered some options that use the same skills but offer much better odds.

Passionate About Psychology ... ?

For students hoping to get a job immediately after graduation, psychology is a tough bet. Most jobs in the field require a graduate degree, and students who don't get into those highly competitive programs often find themselves searching fruitlessly for work. In fact, four of the 10 majors with the highest unemployment rates are psychology-related, and jobs for them tend to offer comparatively low salaries.

... Consider Educational Administration or Nursing

But if you like helping people deal with their physical or emotional problems, there are several other majors that are likely to help you find work at a reasonable salary. On the clinical side, nursing has a 2.2% unemployment rate -- one of the lowest -- and an impressive $60,000 median salary. Alternately, if you'd prefer to work with children, educational administration has a 0% unemployment rate and a median salary of $65,000; another option, student counseling, offers unimpressive salaries -- the median hovers around $20,000 -- but also has an enviable 0% unemployment rate.

All About the Arts ... ?

There's a reason the "starving artist" is a cliche: Arts students top most lists of the least-employable college graduates. Even commercial art and graphic design, generally regarded as the most functional of the fine arts majors, has a shocking 8.1% unemployment rate, and other fine arts majors range between 7.4% and 16.2% unemployment.

... Think Art Education

This isn't to say, however, that all artists have to starve. If you love art and are devoted to human expression, art education can help you scratch your creative itch while putting you on the track to a solid career. Language and drama education, for example, have 95% employment rates, among the highest. Meanwhile, art and music education offer even better odds: Only 4.2% of grads are unemployed. And while not especially lucrative, both lead to solid $41,000 median salaries.

Are You a U.S. History Buff ... ?

Georges Santayana famously wrote that those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it. Unfortunately, those who dedicate their college years to remembering the past may be condemned to work at McDonald's. U.S. history majors have the third highest unemployment rate: 15.1% of them can't find jobs after graduation, and their colleagues in general social sciences face a similarly high unemployment rate. General history students do a bit better, thought their 6.5% unemployment rate -- while comparatively enviable -- isn't stellar.