At the age of 26, representing the Republic of China, she won the first prize in the 1967 Dimitri Mipropolous competition for conductors in the Carnegie Hall in New York, and was later appointed assistant to Leonard Bernstein, director-conductor of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra.
結果，比賽揭曉，得到首獎的，正是代表中華民國的郭美貞。郭美貞不僅達到了她夢寐以求的目標，獲得紐約交響樂團和名指揮家伯恩斯坦的助理指揮之職，也為她所摯愛的祖國爭取了極高的榮譽。