Looking for Advice: Summer Plans Before MSF and FT IB Recruiting (No Return Offer Last Summer)

I was recently admitted to a “top” Master in Finance (MSF) program after graduating from a target school. During undergrad, I interned at a boutique bank my sophomore year and at a reputable middle market bank my junior year. Unfortunately, I didn’t receive a return offer (we had a ~50% return offer rate) and ended up striking out in full-time recruiting. Looking back, I wasn’t as prepared or proactive as I should’ve been when it came to networking and interview prep. I landed a few interviews and had a hand full of superdays that went well, but unfortunately felt like the no-return offer was a big red flag which was hard to look past.

This time around, I’m giving it another shot and feel much more confident in my approach. I’m already solid on technicals and have been aggressively networking ahead of FT recruiting this summer.

One concern I still have is the lack of a return offer on my resume. While the MM firm cited headcount issues and said they’d be happy to serve as references, I’ve been wondering if it would be worth doing a remote part-time internship at a boutique bank this summer to get a fresh experience and strong reviews to vouch for my work.

Would love to hear thoughts on the following:
1. Is it worth doing a summer internship at a very small boutique for the experience, or would that dilute the value of my MM experience on my resume?
2. If I don’t do any internship this summer and just focus on recruiting and networking, could that be a red flag?
3. How should I best spend the next two months before the MSF program begins? Besides technical prep and networking, would something like an Excel course or modeling bootcamp be worth it?
4. Any general advice for full-time IB recruiting / networking this cycle? Would really appreciate any and all advice!

Thanks in advance, and hope everyone’s having a great summer so far!