Summer Options (for a SWE) [closed]

Question 1

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Questions asking for advice on a specific choice, such as what job to take or what skills to learn, are difficult to answer objectively and are rarely useful for anyone else. Instead of asking which decision to make, try asking how to make the decision, or for more specific details about one element of the decision. (More information)

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so I'm a upcoming 4th year in university with focus in SWE(specifically in mobile or web dev), and essentially, I wasn't able to land an internship this summer, so I wanted to work on something interesting I want to do and impressive enough to replace one of my project in my resume but I can't decide which direction I want to go. For now, assume that I'm financially stable and won't need until graduation.

Here are the options that I'm thinking.

Open source projects
pros: flexible and can choose a project I would be invested in.
cons: new to this, and might not be as impressive as an internship
Unpaid internships (Been applying a few as a back-up in case I don't get anything, and only been hearing responses back from unpaid ones. Might just have to take it if nothing new comes up)
pros: could potentially choose for a good startup with connections or potential
cons: free labor
Freelance
pros: gets paid
cons: I heard its almost impossible with tons of experience.
Something else???

I'd appreciate any suggestion and advice. I'm currently looking into open-source projects and see how they work and if there something interesting, which I'll update on this thread.

Question 2

They’re not mutually exclusive.

Slice your time up and try to make inroads on all options - if something “sticks” or looks more promising then decide whether you want to dedicate more time to it at the expense of other options.

Note: I’m not suggesting you actually take on freelance work while also doing an internship, but you can apply for internships while also trying to land freelance work - it’s only once you’ve made promises of your time that you need to choose whether to chase better options in parallel or focus on what you’ve already got.