As a junior in HS, should I start getting LoR's?

Answered

You can ask various teachers if they will in the future write a college recommendation but it doesn't make any sense for them to write them now since 1.) they have to be added to your Common or Coalition App portal as a recommender for the schools you are applying and 2.) you are not not allowed to procure the recommendations yourself because they are Common or Coalition forms, recommenders have to fill out, 3.) And the process doesn't allow you to collect them either because most applicants waive their rights to view them or read them and as a security measure recommenders have to submit them directly through the portal of your choice to the college.

Next Summer around August 1st the Common App opens so you can add your teachers as recommenders then. For the Coalition App, you can actually start working on the app now if you think you will use it versus or in conjunction with the Common App. Again, you will not be allowed to procure recommendations until you are in your Sr. year and applying to colleges. But you have plenty to fill out and work on if you want in the meantime.

Rather than getting advice on who your recommenders should be from here, I would strongly advise you to look at the requirements for each and every college you are applying to. For instance at MIT and CalTech, they both require 2 teacher evaluations, 1 from a Math/Science teacher and 1 from a Humanities teacher. So you need to follow their rules not the advice from a CV member. If a college doesn't have a teacher recommendation requirements, you should pick the teachers who know can advocate for your academics and personal character best, regardless of what they taught you.

Why? Because let's say you took AP Calc B/C and there were 25 students in your class and 20 gots As and 5 got Bs. Let say that on the AP exam 80% of the class got 5s and, 10% each got 4s and 3s. That means there are a lot of smart students in AP Calc B/C. If those 20 A students who got 5s to ask the Calc teacher for a recommendation, then they will have a very difficult time advocating for you versus Bill or Jane who did just as well. But let's say for instance that Jane asked a lot of questions, and showed up at Zoom office hours, and sent the teacher nice holiday cards, well then Jane is certainly a more memorable student that "grinded" and appreciated her teacher. In this case, I wouldn't be surprised if your Calc teacher didn't write a glowing letter about Jane. But let's say you were challenged by AP Lang and had a B but showed initiative and class participation and moved your grade to an A, then your AP Lang teacher would be a better recommender in that case vs. your AP Calc teacher.

If there is nothing remarkable about your performance in your class that clearly differentiates you from your peers and you know other high achieving peers are vying to have the same teacher write their recommendations, you don't want your recommendation to read like a form letter.

Good luck and be strategic about who you chose.