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[Telgin]

My first choice would probably be healing magic.  I'm not on track to be a doctor or anything (although I did consider it once), but the thought of having magic that could help people like that has always appealed to me.

If not that, then probably something related to my direct interests, which are art and computer science.  Heck, I'd give quite a lot to have a debugging spell...

Or failing that, it's always fun to be able to fly right?  Flight and telekinesis please.

[Levi]

Item Enchanting.  Then I can sell people +5 Robes of Invisibility for cash.

[Darvi]

Which they then steal back using the very same robes.

Face it, all your choices are nothing compared to the power to alter reality.

[Levi]

Which they then steal back using the very same robes.

Nah, I've got my spectacles of true sight on at all times.

[Truean]

Pfft, you guys think waaay too small: Mind control magic. Subtly you could easily bring all the worlds rulers to their knees. I'd let the world mostly carry on as normal, but have all the worlds powers secretly controlled by me. Keep it so nobody knows this, maybe make myself a mildly rich man who wants for nothing (extravagance isn't to my taste anyway). A nobody by many respects. But I'd use my powers to make sure things never went too far to shit, keeping everyone in a state of conflict without letting the conflict reach the point it risks out very species (no chance of nuclear war, for example).

Secretly, you shall have a lord, both powerful and magnificent. Terrible as the dawn, treacherous as the sea, all shall love me and despair! ^^

There is no possible way "idiotmancy" doesn't cover world leaders. (Or enchantment would)

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[Rant]
Idiotmancy. All idiots forced to follow your every command, all the time! Includes ability to telepathically communicate with and be understood by idiots because otherwise it wouldn't work. Rig elections/juries, massive public works, change the very face of the globe, and use the catch phrase "I'm surrounded by idiots!" If you ever have enough stupid ideas, then you could control yourself!

Necromancy requires reanimating rituals, smells terrible, is socially unacceptable and can be contagious/endanger one's own immortal soul. Not to mention you need deed bodies as raw materials. Yes, DEED bodies, like donated to science or something cause how else are you gonna get them?

The undead last forever, but there's an idiot born every minute! Both schools provide an inexhaustible supply of minions.
[Rant/]

I ... I mean... "enchantment," yes ... enchantment. And um.... there's a will saving throw required...?

[GlyphGryph]

I'd have the power to ROCK YOU.

Has that one already been called?

My spells would weave a wonderful web of wonderment in wild-eyed onlookers as they sway to the beat of the my might magics.

[Gizogin]

Ice magic.  Freezing people, launching shards of ice, messing with heat energy, that kind of thing.

Spoiler: my reasoning (lots of hypothetical magic discussion) (click to show/hide)

The way my thinking goes, magic is manipulating energy; for example, where heat normally flows from hotter objects to cooler ones, magic can reverse that flow.  There would also have to be some kind of actual magical energy, which is different from normal energy (because it's magic), and allows a magic user to actually perform magic.  Magical energy allows for deliberate violation of the laws of thermodynamics, and more is required for larger violations.  I also think that violating entropy with magic would require less magic than imparting more energy into a system would. 
Therefore, when I think of ice magic, I see it as just converting heat energy into energy of motion.  To launch an ice spear, I would draw all the heat out of water vapor in the air, then use that energy to move the ice crystals together into a big chunk of ice, which I then launch.  I haven't done the maths on it, but I know that freezing water vapor from room temperature releases a lot of energy, and depending on the arrangement of the ice (a low-density, high-strength lattice, for example), it shouldn't require too much more to launch that ice at a considerable speed.  Because it's mostly just moving energy around, my version of ice magic wouldn't require that much actual magic; the real difficulty would come from the fine control needed.
Also, it's magic.  I'm overthinking it.  The entire reason I came up with this explanation for how magic could work is so that I could justify ice magic being the best.

[lemon10]

The problem with ice magic in my opinion is that it is limited to temperatures approaching absolute 0, while fire magic is able to achieve temperatures limited only by A) your raw power B) your ability to stop it burning you to death C) the point where it gets so hot that it starts to mess with reality or destroy cities you are in that you want to keep standing

Of course that's assuming that you can't have temperatures lower then absolute 0, which might be possible with magic (depending on exactly how it works).

Also, if magic exists, then either the second law of thermodynamics is pretty irrelevant (since it can be ignored and surpassed), or it would still exist and even with magic the universe would slowly slide into chaos anyways.

[EveryZig]

Know what's better than mind control? The power of Heart. Not only can you control people through their emotions, you also have the option to restrict their blood circulation to cause unconsciousness or death.

Personally I am partial to mastery of the sixth element, the basis of life as we know it: Carbon!
As well as its use in biology, carbon combines many of the best abilities of earth and air powers, being found both as a common gas and as a variety of interesting solid forms.

[monk12]

Step 1: Master Divination Magic
Step 2: Use Divinations to become super-rich (through gambling and stocks)
Step 3: Use Divination and riches to create high-tech gadgets that can control the fundamental powers of the universe
Step 4: Use Divination to hunt criminals
Step 5: Become the GODDAM BATMAN

[Gizogin]

Also, if magic exists, then either the second law of thermodynamics is pretty irrelevant (since it can be ignored and surpassed), or it would still exist and even with magic the universe would slowly slide into chaos anyways.

Ah, but that's another part of what I like about my idea of magic.  Depending on the source of magical energy, it should be possible to prevent the heat death of the universe indefinitely.

Oh, and for temperatures lower than 0 K:  I don't know if you've read the Discworld books, but they have a lot of fun with opposites like that.  For example, Chaos has a sword that is so cold that it actually burns, but coldly.  Also, darkness is faster that light, because no matter how fast light travels, darkness is already there, and has to get out of the way.

[The Fool]

If I had magic I would be a seer that can see the future. Sure it isn't powerful, but it is useful.

[EveryZig]

If I had magic I would be a seer that can see the future. Sure it isn't powerful, but it is useful.

With a good enough future-seeing ability, you can quickly become more powerful than most (non-time-traveling) reality warpers. Using repeated predictions and small changes of plans you can basically save-scum reality.
And that isn't even getting into serious recursion, like when your predicted self passes on research to your current self, which would give your predicted self a head start on their research so they could learn even more and pass than on to your present self, and so on...

[Gizogin]

Time magic makes my head hurt.  Space magic, on the other hand...
Warp the space around you so that arrows go from flying towards your front to flying away from your back without crossing the space between.  By extension, anything you could do with a portal gun.
Implosions.  Explosions.
Teleportation.

[Theoboldi]

I'll also have to say ice magic. Mainly because of all the possible applications of freezing things. The human body is mostly water, so I could simply freeze people in place if I wanted to. Also, making objects from ice. Sure they'd break easily, but the sheer versatility of creating all sorts of items from nothing but water would be incredibly useful.

Sure it isn't as powerful as seeing the future, or travelling through time, but I'd be afraid of all sorts of temporal paradoxes if I did that.