Asking because I feel like sometimes if you check in as soon as possible they give you crappy seats, but if you wait for a bit the crappy seats are taken by other people so you get better ones.
No serious evidence, so asking here for other experiences
I was once a student, and Ryanair was the shit. But one thing that is not factored into the price is the risk of being fucked by Ryanair. Disregarding delays, I have been denied boarding twice (mainly because they overbooked the flight), and attributed the cause to me arriving late, never was the case. No appeal nor EU261 would have helped. So in retrospect, you are 100% correct.
Wow, sorry to hear, never had an issue with Ryanair. Vueling seems to overbook more, I had friends who almost had issues once