Edit in JSFiddle

$(document).ready(function(){
    $('#btnGetValue').click(function(){
        alert($('#ddlList').val());
    });
    
     $('#btnGetSelText').click(function(){
      alert($('#ddlList option:selected').text());
    });
    
    
    $('#btnGetText').click(function(){
      alert($('#ddlList').text());       
    });
    
    $('#btnGetSelectedIndex').click(function(){
      alert($("#ddlList").get(0).selectedIndex);     
    });
    
    $('#btnSelectFirstElement').click(function(){  
        $("#ddlList option:first-child").attr("selected","selected");
    });
});

<select id="ddlList">
  <option value="1">ASP.NET</option>
  <option value="2">C#</option>
  <option value="3">VB.NET</option>
  <option value="4">HTML</option>
  <option value="5">jQuery</option>
</select>

<br/><br/>
<input type="button" id="btnGetValue" Value="Get Selected Value" />
&nbsp;&nbsp;
<input type="button" id="btnGetSelText" Value="Get Selected Text" />
&nbsp;&nbsp;
<input type="button" id="btnGetText" Value="Get DropDown Text" /> 
<br/><br/>
<input type="button" id="btnGetSelectedIndex" Value="Get Selected Index" />
&nbsp;&nbsp;
<input type="button" id="btnSelectFirstElement" Value="Select First Element" />
&nbsp;&nbsp;