Should I leave Leiden for a Cambridge transfer?

Hi all,
I am just about to start my BA in International Studies at Leiden University, planning to specialise in East Asia and learn Japanese!! My grades upon entry were A*AB and an A in EPQ. My predicted grades were A*AB and so I didn't apply to Oxbridge.
However, I got one of my papers remarked (English Lit - I did History, Philosophy and English Lit + EPQ) and I got an A so I now meet Oxbridge requirements particularly for Asian and Middle Eastern Studies.
I am in sort of a dilemma whether or not I should apply to Cambridge for AMES for the coming year and effectively transfer from Leiden to Cambridge? Could anyone help with this MASSIVE dilemma?

As you are at an overseas university, you can try without any risk. It won't be a transfer in Cambridge eyes, you need to apply as normal and go through the standard process. The dislike of taking applications from people already at uni only applies to UK unis.

Of course, that works in my favour then! My only concern is that I have to draft a new Personal Statement with virtually no assistance, Not sure if its wise to risk it all like that in the middle of another university's course.

Err, if you can't factor that into your schedule you won't be able to cope with a Cambridge course. It's a Personal Statement, not a PhD thesis!

While that is true if I was on a gap year, it is a lot harder at Leiden which is notoriously competitive workload wise. That said, I shall try my best! Will also contacted my now former Sixth Form to see if I can still have it reviewed and all.

It's only 4000 characters, I also am pretty sure it's not a hugely important part of the application for most courses at Cambridge (or Oxford). You can do it in a weekend provided you also are/have been doing relevant wider reading in general around your subject area.
I wrote my PS for UCL in a week while studying part-time and working part-time (adding up to about 6 days a week of workload between the two...)...
That said, are you a UK student studying internationally at Leiden or a non-UK (i.e. international fees) student studying at Leiden? Not sure if that might change their perspective on applications while at another uni...? If so you may want to check with them whether that might be an issue.

Ah? I always had the impression that you needed a masterpiece of a PS to get into either university. As for your enquiry, I am an EU citizen but with settler's status in the UK (born and raised other than a brief 5 years living elsewhere in the EU).

I guess my dilemma is also essentially whether or not I should do a BA at Oxbridge (and so apply this year for 2025) or a Master's at Oxbridge and complete my 3 year BA at Leiden.

Both unis have gone on record at different times indicating the PS is one of the least important parts of the application because they have no real way to tell if the student actually wrote it and they have so much other information from interviews and admissions tests that it's generally not critical.
It's not like LSE, who do put a huge amount of emphasis on it and have rejected students for insufficiently focused PSes or similar.
In any event I suspect you would fall under the international student category and this starting at another uni may be a non factor so you have essentially nothing to lose if you're otherwise happy to continue at leiden if unsuccessful applying to Oxford or Cambridge.

Thank you so much, hopefully I can get an interview (which I am panicked about) but wish me luck please!

If they ask me what I plan to do this year without university as far as they know would you advise that I tell them I am studying at Leiden or shall I tell them that I intend to work a job (which I do) relevant to the degree?

You are required to declare your current university study in your UCAS application - failure to do so would lead your application being marked as fraudulent and UCAS can withdraw you from the current application cycle and exclude you potentially from future application cycles. Any universities that had made you an offer at the time your application was declared fraudulent are then free to nullify those offers.
You don't get to choose if "tell them" whether you are studying there or not - this is a mandatory part of the UCAS application with all your educational history which they will have no matter what. Extremely important!

Ah, of course. Does this also apply with foreign universities? In this case I have been at a foreign university for a month - unsure if that counts.