One little caveat I'll throw out there - RAW is awesome for how much latitude it provides to process the photo - much more range of adjustment can be made than when processing a JPEG - however, decide for yourself whether JPG does what you want or need, or if RAW would work better for you, or even use both. You'll get a ton of pressure from all enthusiast photogs to move to RAW, but you don't HAVE to - it's up to you!
Believe it or not, I've been shooting since 1977, moved to digital in 1997, and shoot semi-pro in that my photography does generate some income on the side from publications/sales/event shooting...and I shoot mostly JPG very much by choice. It's just what fits me, it's my style, and it's my preference. I actually do shoot RAW sometimes, mainly when I'm shooting a live event where I have no chance to replicate a shot - if I get anything wrong, I need maximum latitude to reover it. But for most of my pleasure shooting, and those that I end up selling or publishing, I shoot JPG.
I don't say this to make JPG sound as 'good' as RAW...it's not. Simple fact is, it actually takes MORE work and MORE skill to really get good results out of a JPG, because you must get it right when you shoot it...there's far less room to correct anything after the fact. There are many advantages to RAW - but some folks find advantages in JPG too. While many point out how 'easy' it is to quickly set up a batch processing for RAW, for my particular style it's still a much more lengthy process overall and more space-intensive. For example, after I shoot 600 bird photos on a weekend, I head home, throw the memory card in my slot, and have ALL shot downloaded in about 2 minutes. 600 RAWs even on the fastest computer will be taking a lot longer than that. Once I've loaded them, that's it - ready to view! Done! I love that, mostly because I don't really enjoy spending much time in front of a computer...if I can shave 10 minutes off of my computer screen time, I'll do it. But it does take work for me to make sure I nail my exposure, nail my framing, hit the focus perfectly, account for white balance, beware of highlights and shadows, etc. when shooting. If I flub a shot, it's a throwaway in JPEG - with RAW, it's actually sometimes recoverable. I accept that when I choose to shoot JPG.
So the main point is - shoot in the mode that makes you enjoy your photography the most - if that means JPGs and little or no processing, or if it means RAW and having maximum control and latitude, neither is wrong!
