SOLVED. Young woman discovers she has magical talent. Goes to mage college. Meets a dragon. [s]

[Michael]

About the only thing I remember about this book is when the students were practicing transmutation magic. They were suppose to transmute a wrinkled apple into a fresh apple. The protagonist stunts her instructors by not only producing a fresh, crisp apple, but also changing it from a golden delicious into a Macintosh. She has incredible powers and can perform magics that no one else can. There is also a dragon involved later in the story. Sound familiar?

[Michael]

One more thing I remember is when she first meets the dragon it explains the reason dragons love gold. It sings to them.

[Michael]

One thing I forgot to mention is that it's been around 20 years since I read this

[Aerulan]

Ok, so I don't remember a dragon at all -though it may be in a later/sequel book (and the third book in the trilogy has a dragon on the cover) or just my memory at fault. But the other basic elements and particularly the apple scene you describe is pretty darn close to one in Fire in the Mist by Holly Lisle. I grabbed the scene from that one and put it in the spoiler tags, so you can compare to your memory and see if it fits.

(view spoiler)[...She raised her voice so that the rest of the class could hear. “Take this apple, Faia, and repair it so that it is edible again. We’ve been discussing the formulas in class — since you seem to know so much about them, you shouldn’t have any trouble.”

Faia held in her hands the withered, dried remains of an apple. It was a sorry, wormy red windfall apple, one of last autumn’s. She had, in her young life, seen more windfall apples than anyone had any business seeing. Fix it? she thought. Fix it? Surely she’s joking.
Faia repressed a smile of unholy glee. They thought fixing an apple was some sort of wonderful demonstration of magic? That was what all these hot-air formulas and equations and long-winded talks were about? No one had said anything before about apples.

She turned to face the class, and held the apple in her outstretched hand. She centered, pulling energy from the earth below her and from the air above, and visualizing the apple as one of her favorite huge tangy green Highland Susskinds. She could taste it, feel it, hear the crunch when she bit into it, smell the pure autumn smell of it — she could see it sitting pale yellow-green and glossy in her hand. She looked at it from all angles, and when she had it fixed in her mind, she closed her eyes and let the energy she’d drawn into herself feed carefully into the withered brown fruit.
When she heard gasps, she opened her eyes.
A perfect Highland Susskind rested in the palm of her hand.

Her dear instructor’s jaw rested on the floor.
So the stupid hick from the highlands can do a few tricks they cannot, in spite of their fancy schooling. That ought to show them. Faia grinned viciously, took a bite of the apple with a cheeky toss of her head, and remarked loudly to no one in particular, “Been doing that since I was six.” (hide spoiler)]

[Michael]

DING DING DING DING! WE HAVE WINNER! THANKS A BUNCH.

[Aerulan]

Michael wrote: "DING DING DING DING! WE HAVE WINNER! THANKS A BUNCH."

You're welcome!