Ask HN: Accept an internship or direct your own learning?

Some of you students have been through both situations before: working during the summer for a company, or remaining jobless and directing your own learning and projects. I currently have to decide whether to pick the former and work at a great software company (for which I already worked before) or choose the latter and take some courses and dedicate the summer for my own personal projects. The pros of working for a company are obvious: besides working on "real-life" and challenging problems, I get to build contacts which will pave the way for full time employment upon graduation. However, the problems assigned to me won't necessarily be of my choosing, and I'll probably end up working on stuff I'm already comfortable with (and will definitely learn new skillsets along the way).

Being the self-motivated person that I am, I believe that I can gain a lot more from self-directed learning while working on the projects of my choice and passion. However, there's the downside that one day, I'll look back and regret not having built on those company contacts that would have guaranteed me a good job (where, don't get me wrong, there's much learning to be done).

So for those of you who have been through this (or who can still offer good advice based on experience), what would you do if you were in my shoes?