What you haven't told us is why you want to get away from point and shoot. What do you want do do that your current P&S camera can't do? $500 isn't a lot to spend on a DSLR (especially when you consider that you have to get a lens, and accessories like a camera bag, memory cards, a spare battery, filters if you want to do creative work, etc., too), while you could get near top of the line in P&S that offers many features of DSLR for the same money.

That said, I am fond of the Canon EOS system, but I wouldn't exclude others.