<p>I am a recent CS grad (2009). I haven't take the gre yet, but will soon. I graduated university with a 2.9 GPA from Suny Buffalo. Low gpa was mainly due to working all the time, but I wasn't the best student either. I generally liked academia a lot. Id like to stay there as long as possible. Given my low gpa, what can I do to get into a decent school. MS or PHD.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Take at least 2 years off and get some solid research experience, especially if you’re aiming for a PhD.</p></li>
<li><p>During your time off, take one graduate course a term/semester and perform well to show that you can handle graduate work.</p></li>
<li><p>Make good connections with your research advisor and professors so that you can count on strong and positive letters of recommendation.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>^^ what creolan said.
Doing some more coursework and getting some recommenders (with phds) to vouch for you is equally vital as showing you have a work ethic for research. Ideally you could find research through whatever U you took courses at, but there are lots of opportunities for good programmers in the northeast, think places like Brookhaven Labs & Stony Brook.</p>