I’m going to a prestigious science and math school next year and a lot of the kids there have already taken AP Calculus their sophomore year before they arrive and are set to take things like Differential Equations and Graph Theory. My old school wouldn’t let us get very far ahead in math so even though I’m going to the same prestigious school as the alreadytakencalculus kids I’ll only be taking Precalculus next year. Would this make me look bad in comparison especially for top schools like MIT? Or will they consider my previous schooling and not just “Oh hey this kid went to the really advanced science and math school why has he only taken AP Calculus and not anything higher level like all these other kids”.
Since you would need to send all your HS transcripts, the AO will know that you went to more than one HS, and the GC can certainly mention it on the Secondary School Report. Despite what you may believe after reading College Confidential, it is a very small minority of students who are accepted to top schools who will have math preparation beyond AP Calculus.