General Would it help or hurt me to email schools about my Fulbright?

[Mr.Smile12]

Hello SDN - I was awarded a Fulbright ETA position and will be abroad from September to June of this upcoming cycle. When applicable on my secondaries, I notified schools that I plan to return to the USA in October (and potentially November-December if needed) and, "upon review of my application and IF I am invited to interview," to please let me know whether those dates are possible to accommodate.

I have read on previous SDN posts that it might come across as rude or presumptuous to inform (especially email) schools about my return trips to the USA and seek accommodation unless I am a "superstar" candidate. Simply put, I believe my numbers (GPA=3.7, sGPA=3.43; MCAT 511, then 512 on retake) might make me a borderline candidate?

Just looking for advice on how to proceed - could I have made a mistake and struck the wrong tone here? Should I email schools directly after the completion of my secondary to inform them about my dates? Or should I wait to send an in-the-area email if/when I receive an interview from another school?

As more background, I am a reapplicant from 2017-2018 cycle (2 II and 2 WL; did not apply broadly enough last time, had weaknesses in my GPA, and applied later in the cycle)

In my practice/experience, emailing is fine but not necessary until you are contacted about scheduling an interview. The Admissions Committee doesn't make decisions based on an applicant's availability; rather it reviews applications when they come up for consideration. If you get an early invitation but can't interview until after December, the schools should be able to work with that. If you are a borderline candidate, then it probably won't matter as much as you think if you were interviewed in a later group.

I also presume as a reapplicant expressing concerns about your GPA that you are applying to DO programs? If you aren't, you should be thinking about it seriously rather than throw good money after bad.

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[Catalystik]

This thread from last year's application season covers multiple adcomm points of view/suggestions regarding your situation: Living abroad during most of interview season