How do I get the value of drop down list on page load with jQuery

Question

Using jQuery, how can I get the selected item's value in a select when the page loads? I can do it onChange etc but cant figure out the way on page load.

Here's my code:

<select name="symb" id="symb">
  <option value="1#10#6">Basic Personal</option>
  <option selected="selected" value="2#20#6">Basic Family</option>
  <option value="7#90#12">Advanced Personal</option>
  <option value="8#120#12">Advanced Family</option>
  <option value="9#130#12">Optimum Personal</option>
  <option value="10#170#12">Optimum Family</option>
</select>

This is the script I'm using for getting the option value onchange:

$(document).ready(function() {
    $("#symb").change(function() {
          var val = $(this).symbCost(0);
    })

   $.fn.symbCost = function(pos) {
        var total = parseInt($("option:selected").val().split('#')[pos]);
        return total;
    }
});

Answer 1

$(document).ready(function() {
    alert($("#symb").val());
});