[seltzered]

your question is really how long it will take you to gain traction. And it varies upon what you're making, and who your market is.. Whenever I ask myself such things for my idea, one reference I look at is Patrick's sales states for bcc: http://www.bingocardcreator.com/stats/sales-by-month

Search HN, there's other examples people have posted out there.

The question you want to be asking: Why do you want to go to grad school? Why not save money while working for a year for it? Are you able to "gain traction" with professors yet? i.e. get them to vouch for you, and possibly help you get into a TA program to help cover costs?

My opinion: given the time constraints you've defined, no, and you'd be better off working a job and contracting on the side.

[streamline]

he is in India with yearly salary of 14K$ at best, even if saves his entire salary he would need 3-4 years to pay for an MS degree in USA. also professors cant help much since they are flooded by emails from students.

Loan is an option, one can get loan for around 40k$ but it requires some property to be mortgaged.