I know more selective student are always saying that the look for students who take advantage of all the academic opportunities available, and my school had AP Calculus BC as an option, but I choose not to take it because my teacher made me believe I wasn’t smart enough for it. Will I look bad because I choose to take AB over BC?
Depends on your 4 year schedule and your future plans. Probably not. AOs are not going through your transcript course by course.
If a high school teacher can convince you of that, how are you going to handle a college prof? Don’t buy into it. Your username implies to me you have a long exciting road ahead of you. Get hyped now cause you need to finish the race strong.
Now, in my kid’s high school the path for high achieving Math kids and btw they do not tend a top high school- is Calc AB then Calc BC, but some after AB will opt for AP Stats.
D21 had her friends and the teacher encouraging her to take Stats. She actually wondered the same thing, did the teacher not think she would do well? Nonsense. She is taking BC her senior year. You do you. Colleges will get a school profile to see if you took the most rigorous courses and / or the ones that make sense for a student like you. They are reviewing these applications holistically and will make a decision based on the whole package. I wish you the very best!
You are fine.