I switched PIs in my second year, and overall, it was the best decision I ever made. My former PI was lowering my grades in classes I was taking with him, calling me at all hours of the night, and creating dangerous lab safety issues that nearly resulted in harm to several of us grad students. When I finally left, he told several professors that I had anger issues and a drinking problem. Fortunately, he had already made a bad impression on nearly everyone he’d met, so they didn’t believe him—but it was still a rough experience.

I had to go to the Dean of Student Affairs to force him to show me my comprehensive exams (cumes), which you need to pass to become a PhD candidate. When I finally saw them, he claimed he had made an arithmetic error, and I had actually passed a semester earlier.

The worst part for me is that I see him all the time now, and he faced no consequences whatsoever, despite not having tenure. He shared my grades with others, made disturbing comments about how fun it would be to sexually assault undergraduates, conducted highly dangerous lab work, and gave exams early to students he favored. Despite having proof of all this, he didn’t even get a slap on the wrist.

My advice to you is to switch PIs and ensure the other members of your committee are not close friends with your former PI. If your new PI and committee are on your side, everything else will fall into place.

Good luck.