<human>: Can you provide a brief overview of the text?

I've had the thoughts drilled into my head that you need to do as well as possible all through high school if you want to make it into a middle of the road college. I've also had a few people lately tell me that that's not the case.

I'm planning to be a computer science major in college. I personally don't care about going to an elite school. I'm interested in learning my field. My question is, will a math / science school really look at an 85 in English or history differently from a 90? A friend told me that to go into an area like that I need good science grades, good math grades, and a solid SAT score, and a minor difference in the other misc. classes won't make much of a difference. 

If that's the case, I'd really just like some reassurance from people who have been through the system. I'd much rather spend my free time programming and developing a set of skills I *will* use in the future rather than reading some pointless book for my English class because it has symbols and meaning.
<bot>: What's the bare minimum I  can do in English / History academically that will get me where I want to be?