She also may reassess her list, including legacy, when she has access to naviance and a sense of the likely outcomes of her applications. It matters quite a bit whether her score is 1400 or 1600; no guarantees but a better sense of where to apply. That is why I ignored the school’s suggestion to wait until spring to test-I wanted a realistic list before March.
If one take the March test the first time, there is not many opportunity to retake before senior year considering the AP exams in May and the registration deadline. It is a very bad suggestion of the school. Perhaps they think their students are not ready due to their curriculum. Fortunately, there are now July ACT and August SAT. However, these test dares have less test centers and seats.
I’d just sign her up to take the ACT or SAT next opportunity. Like now. You can still sign up for the February ACT right now with late fee. Then if she needs it, she has 1-2 more chances. Especially if you don’t have a baseline with something like a PSAT score or an early ACT/SAT.
I would not push the parental alma maters if she’s not interested. That doesn’t seem to buy you much in admissions these days anyway.
Neither of my kids took the SAT before March. The oldest then retook in May, and took subject tests in June. Youngest took subject tests in May, retook subject tests in June (he needed three for one school and stupidly took one in a subject he’s not very good at, sigh), and then retook the SAT in the fall. They test well and are not into stressing about testing. We had a pretty good idea of how they’d do as they had PSAT scores and had taken the SAT in middle school, where they did well for their ages.
I did ask my oldest to apply to our alma mater because I thought he’d be better off there than his two safety schools. He’d been on campus for a reunion or two and thought he didn’t like it. I promised him I would never force him to attend, but I did want him to apply. When he attended the accepted students weekend he liked it much more than he expected to - and he agonized about it and his ultimate top choice until the last day possible.