If you have to ask, it's probably not for you.
I've installed it a few times on a couple of different computers (dating back to 1997). It was cumbersome to use back then, and cumbersome to use today. The benefits were more apparent back in the old days, when Windows 95/98 was crap and used to crash a lot. And Windows NT didn't run a lot of software back then so it was quite useless to most home users. But I think Windows 2000/XP is a fairly stable OS, and largely negates much of the alleged stability advantages of Linux.
The biggest problem with Linux though is that software for it is limited. There's a lot of productivity software (especially for computer techs, scientists, etc.), but for most home users it just doesn't have the applications and games that you want to run. If they give you some software at your med school, or if somebody tells you about some hot new app that just came out, chances are it won't run on Linux.
There was a lot of buzz about Linux in the late 90's on how it was a "threat to Windows dominance on desktops". But now, everyone including the most hardcore of computer nerds has given up on the pipe dream. It has it's place, but it's just not any kind of legitimate replacement for Windows for most people.