@JDD I'm a long time lurker on the forums here but I wanted to give my two cents as I've come from a similar situation. Last year I made the transition from an M.Div at an evangelical seminary to a T1 PhD program and I also came from a non-religious undergrad. My encouragement would be to not discount evangelical seminaries--especially strong ones like Fuller--if that is a church tradition you are part of. The transition into a good PhD program is possible and I know others in my year who also were accepted. I'm not saying its easy (and many do take a one-year MTS) but its certainly doable. I love the doctoral program I'm in at the moment (which is mainline and academically focused) but I'm incredibly grateful for my time at an evangelical seminary. Especially as I came from a non-religious undergrad and had spent a few years in the corporate world, my time as seminary was foundational for me in my formation as a disciple, helping me to develop strong convictions about what I believe and gaining some understanding of what I feel called to. Good seminaries like Fuller will introduce you to a broad range of scholarship across the Christian tradition but I found my time to be a grounding experience as well.
Different seminaries help form and shape your faith in different ways so I would advise not to make the decision about seminaries purely based on financial factors (although I recognize that is also important). If you can, I would suggest visiting some of these seminaries as you will get a much better feel for the environment, course of study etc. than you ever can through websites. Its what tipped the decision for me.
