First, I'm assuming you're using this as a client-side script and not server-side. Using HttpRequest.getString will strictly return a Future (async method).
If you absolutely must have a synchronous request, you can construct a new HttpRequest object and call the open method passing the named parameter: async: false
var req = new HttpRequest();
req.onLoad.listen((e) => print(req.responseText));
req.open('GET', url, async: false);
req.send();
However it is highly recommended that you use async methods for accessing network resources as a synchronous call like above will cause the script to block and can potentially make it appear as though your page/script has stopped responding on poor network connections.