“I just don’t see why taking AP Stats instead of AP Calc would significantly decrease my chances of getting into a good school.”
It would depend on your definition of good school, but places like UT-Austin and UW for OOS will expect Calc, definitely over Stats. I posted in another thread, adcoms have said that Calc is the first math course they look for, and the biggest mistake applicants make wrt math rigor is taking Stats over Calc. The reason is that these colleges want kids that take advantage of the courses they have, even if they’re tough, that’s one of the reasons rigor is so important.