I recently took the GRE and ended up with pretty abysmal scores. I received a 156 V and 146 Q. I knew my quant score would be pretty bad, as I've always had trouble with math and didn't expect too much. However, I thought that I would do a lot better on the verbal section as my practice test scores were pretty high. I've been studying for 1.5 hours per day since September, but I only used the Princeton Review book, the word smart book, and the PowerPrep software as my funds were extremely limited.
I barely scraped together enough money to take the test (ETS denied my waiver request) and my first few deadlines are coming up in December, so I won't have the opportunity to retest. I'm applying for a Master's in Near Eastern Studies, but I feel like I've blown my chances with my poor GRE scores. The rest of my application is very strong (high GPA, honors grad, research & professional experience, strong LORs, etc), but I'm worried given the prestige of some of the schools I'm applying to that my application will just be thrown out. I've worked so hard on my applications, and I have no doubts in my mind that the MA (and eventually a Ph.D) are what I want. I'm just very worried that I no longer have a chance at being accepted at any of the schools I'm applying to anymore. Should I just forget about applying or is there still a chance for me?