This depends on the mage, honestly.
When leveling, I rarely have issues kiting mobs and destroying them. Sure, I die sometimes, where I wouldn’t on other classes, but Frost Mage is the most survivable of the Mage specs if you play it well.
I did this and hated it. I switched to Balance and it was a game-changer. I was hating my druid, I didn’t want to play it. On a whim, I switched to Balance and it was like a light switched on. I was destroying stuff after that and it was fun as heck.
I’ll play bear in dungeons for giggles, but Balance is where it’s at.