Background: Over the last years, the number of the international students studying in the Egyptian universities and colleges are increased. Good socio-cultural adaptation is necessary for successful academic achievement of the students. Aims: To assess level of socio-cultural adaptation of Malaysian students studying medicine in Tanta University, Egypt and to determine the relationship between some selected students' sociodemographic characteristics and the level of their adaptation. Methods: This cross-sectional study included 250 Malaysian students studying at the Tanta faculty of medicine (63 students at basic years and 187 students at clinical years). Respondents were interviewed; using a valid questionnaire consisted of sociodemographic data and the Revised Sociocultural Adaptation Scale (SCAS-R) to measure the students' level of socio-cultural adaptation. Results: More than half of the students (65.2%) showed fair adaptation and 18.8% of them showed poor adaptation while good adaptation was found in only 16% of them. Older students (≥ 21 years old), females and single ones experienced more difficulty in adapting, whereas better adaptation was found among students stayed in Egypt longer time and who can understand and speak Arabic language. Conclusions: Sociodemographic characteristics of international students can strongly affect their ability of socio-cultural adaptation in the host country.