I think we are sticking to the original question. The OP asked about business and pre-med, and top universities.
One of my kids did not take Calc in high school or college. And was recently thinking about getting an MBA, and regretting that she had not taken care of this, as it would be a hassle to go do it now. Some med schools also require Calc (and won’t accept the AP credit). If my kid were thinking about med school, I’d suggest they take Calc in high school and then they would be more likely to get good grades in it in college (pre-med GPA is hard to maintain, this is something they could do to help themselves).
Now… some high schools have multiple math tracks that have a Calc class in them that is not AP Calc, and that could be a good compromise for this student. I actually think they are getting good advice from their GC given their possible goals. More students would benefit from asking questions freshman year and taking the prep classes they need for the degrees they might want in the future. And in general if the OP is thinking about paths where Calc will eventually be required, better to get to that level in high school as a good springboard to college level classes.