On a trip to the EAA Oskosh show years ago, my mate wanted to get a US licence (he had a UK PPL) and log a N reg in his log book. First part was incredibly easy. We went off to a quiet airfield some miles distant from Oshkosh so that he could get his check ride. He took off and just like he did in the UK, climbed ahead to a safe height, turned crosswind and continued climb to 1000' agl. At that point the instructor somewhat sarcastically piped up, "I said fly a circuit, the cross country comes later".
Of the many circuits I've seen, a lot of aircraft wouldn't make the runway from mid downwind.