Diversity contribution: A candidate who brings interesting attributes, experiences, and depth of background to the group.
Diversity can come in standard ways, such as race, gender, and foreign country of origin, or it can be more subtle - a unique experience, a particular skill, a reason to see the world differently in some way. Diversity is, of course, not the value in and of itself. It is a proxy for the ability to contribute life experience and extracurricular knowledge to the peer-to-peer business school learning experience.
The question the admissions committee asks is: What additional/unique perspective or expertise does this candidate bring that will be valuable to others?
Intercultural experience and tolerance: A candidate who has demonstrated a tolerance for diversity in people and cultures.
This is not the same as being "diverse" -- this is openness to the diversity in others. The question is whether and how you have demonstrated an ability to get along with people who are not like you in looks, diction, gender, dress, culture, language, sexual orientation, or any other axis of difference. The committee will regard your ability to mix comfortably with all sorts, and, one day, to hire and promote without prejudice, as key to being a successful manager and leader.
Creativity and innovation: A candidate who is comfortable with change and ready to use it creatively.
As technology moves us forward, and societies and markets change, the skills of savvy adaptation are an ever more fundamental part of management. Chances are, before long, you, the MBA graduate, will be asked to take part or all of a company in a direction for which there is no road map. Innovative management will be required.
An open disposition to change, a demonstrated ability to initiate new ideas and to develop original solutions, and any past activity in the creative arts or sciences, will be an asset to your application.
Communication ability: A candidate who can write, speak and organize ideas well.
Financial and technical skills are important, but the single key skill in senior management is communication: the ability to frame, transmit and negotiate ideas in meetings with clients, staff, investors, regulators, lawyers, industry partners, and other stakeholders. Note that, generally in business organizations, the quantitative thinking is done by those near entry level, while the top management and board level spend most of their time talking.
Your communication abilities are assessed in your verbal GMAT and analytical writing assessment (AWA) scores, as well as in your essays and interview.
All-rounder: A candidate who is more than a suit, and who has an array of interests and passions in other things.
"Balance" is the word the committee will use: Does this person do significant things other than work? What moves him? What's her passion? It sounds dated to talk about your hobbies, but you must be able to show reasonable time commitment to nonwork activities, excluding TV and your "significant other." These are the things that will develop the committee's interest in you. Business schools don't need any more one-dimensional, workaholic millionaires-in-training.
Recruitability: When you are offered a place in an MBA program you step on a treadmill. That treadmill will take you through courses, projects, and exams, and then back out into the professional world via the job-search process. The admissions committee is concerned that you will move on easily and seamlessly, that you will be a desirable professional prospect once you have their institution's degree added to your previous skills and experience.
If your profile (including the MBA) looks like it would be unattractive to the type of MBA recruiters that come to that campus, it is less likely that you will be admitted.
Likeability: A candidate who people enjoy having around. All else being equal, people always choose people they like as colleagues and co-workers.
If you are the otherwise-perfect candidate, but sound like you are arrogant, or emotionally unavailable, or an egotist, or antisocial, or ready to trample everyone else with a win-at-all-cost attitude, your application will stall. Business school is an intense 16-hour-a-day kind of place. The committee prefers people who are easy to live with and who will be easy for the other students, faculty, and recruiters to live with. It's just human nature that it will be harder for the admissions committee to turn down someone it likes (so far, on paper). Don't underestimate this one.