I completely agree with you that thoughtful highlight writing can be more spellbinding than the classic hard news stories. I don't think that your preferences necessarily make you more noteworthy for magazine work than for newspaper work, but I do think that you should reconsider pursuing a highlight writing vocation rather than a hard news career.
Whatever you pursue, the good thing about hard news and features for both papers and magazines is that you can use your creative writing skills for virtually any story. A "featurey" lead is all the rage anyway. I wish I had more concrete guidance for you, but maybe these comments can help you find the right path for you.
Health Magazine Careers
You're aware that you can do the creative feature-writing you love at a newspaper, right? A lot of my newspaper vocation was in the "Living" section of varied newspapers (the section containing the soft news, features, articles on health, technology, recipes, spellbinding people, etc.). The larger newspapers may give you more latitude for writing features because they have a larger budget and more staff; the smaller ones may have more budget constraints and fewer staffers, leaving you less time for features.
Then again, you may have to chase hard news more at the big papers and have time to get to know your society and write the easily up-close-and-personal stories at a smaller local weekly paper. A lot depends on the publication's resources and editorial emphasis. You'll need to read a lot of each publication to decide.
One of the great things about being on the newspaper's features staff is the latitude you have; you have a beat to cover, sure, but you can basically write any highlight story you want, with your editor's approval. It's a great amount of autonomy.
You also might reconsider working for one of the news services such as Ap, Reuters, etc.; a lot of the wire stories I pulled while my newspaper vocation were features. I'm not sure how to get started with them, but it wouldn't hurt to ask your professors how to get started. Many college students "string" for them and found themselves as dependable journalistic professionals that way.
I also propose that you look at newspapers that issue the kinds of stories you easily love, and target them for your job search. Hunt for award-winning highlight stories online, or maybe scan journalistic think tanks like the Poynter found for ideas. Some papers are large adequate that they can and will cut one or two reporters loose from their regular duties for special-assignment reporting - such as an in-depth six-week series on teen drug abuse, etc. Often they're just seeking awards, but the long-view stories like this easily do benefit the community, and it's a great gig for you if you can land it.
If I had to make a suggestion, I would propose that you work at a newspaper and freelance for a magazine. My conception is that it's harder to break into highlight writing at magazines unless you go with the "trade" publications, as I did. I think it would be easier to break into magazine writing full time with more writing earnings under your belt.
I've worked for a family-owned weekly newspaper (invaluable end-to-end taste for a beginner journalist), an independent daily newspaper owned by a nonprofit connection (unusual business set-up, but a solid place to work), and a smallish Gannett chain newspaper. If I had to pick one of the three, I'd go with the independent daily paper; great latitude, good circulation size, decent pay, and a more appreciative attitude toward the employees.
The Gannett location was, for me, a case of employers wanting to wring the last drop of life out of employees. But I would bet you'll find that the personel newsroom composition, personalities, goals, etc., plays a larger part in your on-the-job happiness than either you work at a small/large or indy/chain paper.
I agree that the magazine world is much more openly tied to advertising revenue and operate of editorial content, although it's also a quiet but authoritative nearnessy in some newspaper editorial decisions. (I recall wanting to do a simple buyer story comparing prices at local grocery stores -- a highlight that my paper's menagerial editor drastically slight after input from our paper's very alarmed advertising director.) At the magazine where I edited for a merge of years, the core of the editorial calendar was put together by the advertising director, with only input from the editorial staff and management.
But that reflected the attitude of the company's publisher and owner, who -- like most investors -- followed the money trail more intimately than anything else. They don't tell you in journalism school, unfortunately, just how noteworthy the advertising department is in influencing journalism's upper management; after all, they are the moneymakers who bring in the advertising dollars, so when they speak, the big bosses listen. It takes tact and a deft hand with office politics to learn to work cooperatively and effectively in such situations - but that's another topic!
But like I said it is up to you on how you would like to take your caree choice. Just remember to read up on both sides of journalism. You might end up looking out that you would rather stay with one side of the journalism world then with the other side. Try and make sure that you get as much facts before you make your choice. You could even try and get a job in jouralism and see what you like most about that side then the other side of journalism.
A Writing Career: Newspaper Vs Magazine Work