Doing my training from a large airport I was/am taught not to turn crosswind until past the end of the runway which is often well after climbing through 500' (especially on a go-around) unless OKed by ATC.
ATC also prefer orbits for spacing where I'm based - but its normally due to longer waits for 737s (or larger) to land. They often have some aircraft on rt hand and some on left hand circuits at the same time so harder to judge. They have also asked me to extend downwind on occasion.
Another reason to not fly too far away from the runway is you should be within gliding distance (in case of engine failure) so a 500' circuit would be closer to the runway than a 1000' circuit.
PAPI is set at 3 or so degrees so can be missleading.
For a PA28 we don't use 10° flaps at all (selecting carb heat pretty much reduces speed enough to select 2 stages of flaps) - find what works for you and follow the advice of an instructor.