Virgina tech vs. University of Maryland college park?

If your sources are established chemical engineers, then I'd listen to them (and if they're not, I'd see about getting some feedback from that group). But personally, I think I'd still go with UMD. Consider this: VT is in Blacksburg. There's nothing else out there. College Park is in the DC suburbs, which means you'd have internship and/or job opportunities during the school year as well as over the summer. And while I don't know their exact rankings compared to VT, I think they're still pretty strong.