question about return rates

I've seen people on here talk about return rates being what really makes a house top because it speaks to desirability. But (using XO, DDD and KD for my example), if the top houses basically already have their lists done by the time recruitment comes around, and there are more legacies coming through than they can possibly take in a pledge class, and variable quota has them taking fewer girls to begin with, doesn't that just automatically bump their return rate? Does that make sense?