A magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) apparatus includes an MRI system having a plurality of gradient coils positioned about a bore of a magnet. An RF transceiver system and an RF switch are controlled by a pulse module to transmit and receive RF signals to and from an RF coil assembly to acquire MR images. The MRI apparatus also includes a computer programmed to calculate a cost for each point to be acquired in k-space, acquire MR data based on the calculated cost for each point, and generate an MR image using the acquired MR data.