I know you must have heard this before, we all have. It doen't matter. Thats one of the joys about this game,past lvl 20 all races are about equal with gear. Take gnome and because of your +int you're gonna want +Stam for more hitpoints. Take human and its the other way around.
I know its a hard concept to adjust to, I didn't believe it at first either. (FFXI has posioned my brain ><) But it is indeed true. ^^
Have fun with the game!