This study examined the role of academic status norms in friendship selection and influence processes related to academic achievement across the 2nd year of secondary school (SNARE project; N = 1,549 students from 70 classes; Mage = 13.69 years). Academic status norms were operationalized as the class-level correlation between academic achievement and 4 types of peer status: popularity, acceptance, unpopularity, and rejection. Longitudinal social network analyses indicated that the unpopularity and popularity norm play a role in friendship selection processes (but not influence processes) related to academic achievement. In line with our hypotheses, the unpopularity norm in the classroom strengthened similarity-based friendship selection among low-achieving adolescents and predicted greater avoidance of academically similar friends among high-achieving adolescents. Also, the popularity norm strengthened friendship selection among similar peers, both among low and high achievers. Acceptance and rejection norms did not play a role in friendship processes. In sum, the average achievement of popular and unpopular peers shapes friendship preferences in the classroom, which may have important implications for adolescent academic development.