If that's really what you want to do, don't go to an ordinary college. Go to a vocational college, and when you're picking classes, talk to the guidance people (at the college, not high school) about which classes will teach you about welding, fabricating, metalworking/machining, etc, specifically practical skills as opposed to theory. Make sure you're really on top of your math, particularly in trig and calculus.
Not only will you get the skills you're looking for, and access to better equipment to learn on than you would ever find at a regular university, you'll be picking up skills very few have these days, and you'll very likely be able to land a really well-paying job when you graduate. Knowing welding and metalworking, particularly MIG/TIG and other plasma/electric welding, will prepare you for jobs in the energy industry that pay a LOT of money (pipeline welding mainly) when you get out, which will put you ahead of 70-80% of all graduates, and give you all you'll need to excel at building rigs.
ETA: welding isn't the only skill in high demand. Anyone who really knows machining, especially computer-controlled systems, can just about write their own paychecks; it's not very glamorous but it really pays well and the skills are eminently applicable to 'wheeling.